PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL
MEETING
OF THE
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
HELD AT
OTTAWA, CANADA
JUNE 26-JULY 2, 1912

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
78 E. WASHINGTON STREET
CHICAGO, ILL.
1912

[CONTENTS]

Note: The minutes of the National association of state libraries have not been received in time to be included in this volume. They will be separately printed by that association.

[OTTAWA CONFERENCE]

JUNE 26-JULY 2, 1912

PRELIMINARY SESSION

(Wednesday evening, June 26, 1912, Russell Theatre)

The association convened in a preliminary session on Wednesday evening, June 26, with Dr. James W. Robertson, C. M. G., chairman of the Canadian royal commission on industrial training and technical education, presiding as acting chairman of the Ottawa local committee.

Hon. George H. Perley, acting prime minister of Canada, was introduced and welcomed the association to Canada on behalf of the Dominion government. The speaker called attention to the hundred years of peace between the two countries and the plans being formulated for celebrating it, and said that international conferences such as this were the best guarantees of peace; that the more we know of each other the less liable we were to get into trouble.

In Canada schools and libraries are growing apace, particularly in the new regions of the far west, very much the same as in the United States. Exchange of ideas as in this convention is the very best kind of reciprocity and will help both nations in their aims and aspirations for the good of civilization.

Comptroller E. H. Hinchey, the acting mayor of Ottawa, spoke the city's welcome, calling attention to Ottawa as a convention city and its growing claims for being considered the Washington of the North.

The association was graciously welcomed in behalf of the Women's Canadian Club of Ottawa by the president, Mrs. Adam Shortt, who also voiced the welcome from the Women's National Council of Canada. She said the preachers, the teachers, the writers and the librarians are four great standing armies, standing to protect us and to dispel the hydra-headed enemy Ignorance, but that she thought of librarians as captains of individual garrisons scattered here and there through towns and cities, who are sending out emissaries among the people and moulding and forming the mental and moral fibre of each community.

The CHAIRMAN: The Women's Canadian historical society was most kind in pressing forward its desire to have this convention held here. The president, however, desires not to speak to-night.

I have now the pleasure of asking Hon. John G. Foster, United States Consul-General, to speak, as one of ourselves. He is a good citizen, and though of you, with us—we count him almost one of ourselves.

Mr. Foster said he could have assured that portion of the delegates who were his fellow countrymen and countrywomen that they would feel very much at home in this country, whose people, institutions and traditions are so similar to those of the United States.

The CHAIRMAN: Many other representative bodies joined in the effort to secure this meeting for Ottawa and are represented on the platform to-night, but the only other speaker who I shall ask to voice for them or for himself welcoming sentiments is the Hon. Martin Burrell, Minister of agriculture, and, if I may say in parenthesis, also Minister of copyrights, since that comes within his department.

Minister Burrell spoke enthusiastically of the value of books and the habit of good reading and the greater ease with which books could now be secured than formerly. Continuing he said:

"I have heard it said by some skeptical gentlemen that it is true that a librarian never reads a book; in fact, that he cannot be a perfect librarian and read, because he is immediately lost. I do not like to hold that view. I rather hold to the view that the ordinary librarian, perhaps I should say the model librarian, should be a guide, philosopher and friend, and I do not doubt that many of you are very real guides, philosophers and friends to those who are seeking for perhaps they know not what and whom you can direct in right channels with incalculable good to their after life. It is absolutely true that in our modern life we need that guidance. I do not know that I could put it better than in the words of another great book lover, and good library lover too, our friend Robert Louis Stevenson of imperishable memory, who said once there was a sort of dead-alive, hackneyed people in the world who if they were not engaged in a conventional occupation were in a state of coma; that the few hours they did not dedicate to a furious toiling in the gold mill were an absolute blank. It is your high privilege to supply that blank; it is your priceless privilege to fill the hours of life which have to be a blank because we cannot train ourselves for them in this more material age,—to fill them up with a companionship and with an influence of the great thoughts of the great writers of all ages."

Concluding, he expressed his pleasure at the prospect of entertaining the delegates at the Experimental Farm on the following Saturday.

The CHAIRMAN: The real president of the Canadian Club found it impossible to be in Ottawa to-night, and I am the poor substitute for Dr. Otto J. Klotz, who has been a great pillar of strength in Ottawa to those who love books and use books. He deputed me to say that he was exceedingly sorry he could not meet so many old friends of his as would surely be in attendance, and still more sorry because he was deprived of the joy of thus paying a little more back to those who love books and use books for all that books and learning have done for him. He is one of our good men. I am sorry he is not here.

We are delighted to have a woman as your president; and in calling on Mrs. Elmendorf to respond may I say—this comes to me after meeting her yesterday and today—that she is altogether a woman of whom it may be said in relation to her office as president of the American Library Association, "thy gentleness has helped to make it great."

The PRESIDENT: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the American Library Association,—I am sure that I but express what you are all feeling in saying that this royal welcome to the Dominion of Canada makes us not only happy but very much honored. Some members of the association are already at home in their own capital, being keepers of "kings' treasuries" of Canada itself. Others of us are librarians from hither and yon in the country beyond the border, but we have all come with "joy and goodly gree" to sit in council in the very capital of the lovely land which is so loyally and affectionately

"Daughter in her Mother's house."

A small party of us came across the border, as William Morris's heroes are wont to move, "by night and cloud," and when we reached the boundary line a sudden inspiration took us and we stooped down and silently, gently gathered that boundary line in our hands and brought its firm lengths with us. I hold what might represent its shining links here in my hands. Therefore, while we visit here with you, in the very capital of the Dominion, while we hold that boundary line thus in our possession, from Boston Harbor down the coast through New York and Charleston to Key West, along the Gulf to New Orleans, across the great West to Pasadena, up the Pacific coast line to Seattle, from East to West, from North to South, there is no let or hindrance to the lines of influence which go forth. Those lines of influence run free without chance for knot or tangle or any such thing.

I hope you will not need to try whether "the King's writ runs" but I am sure that you will find that Shakespeare reigns in our realm, that Tennyson and Bobby Burns touch our hearts in song, and he who writes the songs of a people need not care who writes their laws.

Just one small story and then I shall have finished, for thanks must needs be brief if they come from the heart, and there is one to come after who will say to you with grace and directness and clear precision much that I might envy but never approach.

My tall brother happened by good fortune to be in London Town the night that the great city went nearly wild in her glad rejoicing at the relief of Ladysmith. It was a sight to see and join in, and he and his wife went on such progress through the streets as a cab could make for them. In his hand, at the full length of his long arm, he waved from the front of the cab a Union Jack and a Stars and Stripes to indicate his sympathy and good feeling. All went well until in one of the many enforced pauses a rough chap jumped for his hand crying, "Aw, sir! One flag'll do!"

We are very happy to be here and are just a little happier to see by these beautiful draped banners that you have not felt that One flag need to do!

The CHAIRMAN: Those of us who have gone to Washington have sometimes thought we should revise our boyhood's interpretation of the New Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation. Nothing I had ever imagined from St. John's description was quite a match for the glory and magnificence of the beautiful Library of Congress. I have found it delightful to think of a nation of great wealth providing such a fitting home for its literary treasures. Books are the friends and ministers of the mind and the soul of the people. The Washington building is the expression in materials of their aspirations for what is best and most beautiful. It is a wonderful building, leaving impressions of wonder on the casual visitor, and still more on those who linger in its chaste corridors and see something of the working of the library itself. I think of the sweet and stately beauty of the place, I think of the institution and its services, and I think also of the man who is more than a match for the magnificence of the home of those books. We will now hear from the man, Dr. HERBERT PUTNAM.

ADDRESS BY DR. PUTNAM

Our acknowledgments as visitors having now been made by the highest authority among us, it is not for the purpose of merely enlarging them that I am assigned a place upon the program. It is rather, I understand, with the view to an expression in behalf of the community of interest represented by this gathering as a whole; and some definition as to what we are, what we aim at, and wherein, if at all, we differ from our predecessors.

Our aim is in terms a simple one. It is to bring a book to a reader, to lead a reader to a book. The task may indeed vary in proportion as the book is obvious or obscure, the reader expert or a novice, so that our service may be as the shortest distance between two simple points; or as the readiest point between two distances. But its main and ultimate end is the same.

And it remains so in spite of organization grown elaborate, apparatus and mechanism grown complex. For the organization is merely to respond to a larger and more varied demand, and with a view to a more ample and diversified response.

What then is the difference between the library of today and the library of a few centuries—a single century—ago?—Is it merely in the development of this organization, the introduction of this apparatus and mechanism?—Is it to such matters that our efforts are directed?—Is it they which require incessant gatherings such as this for explanation, exploitation and discussion, and the innumerable reams of written contribution in our professional journals? They are indeed accountable for a large percentage of it: but back of them, beneath them, is a change which is fundamental, a change in attitude which is essential as no mere form or method can be. It consists in the birth and development—not indeed of a new characteristic in either book or reader, or the discovery of new potencies in the one or new sensibilities in the other—but of a new sense of responsibility on the part of the library in the utilization of the one for the benefit of the other. It is an incident of democracy.

Now, so far as democracy means the participation of the community as a whole in the conduct of its affairs the form of it has existed with us in the United States for generations; and the substance of it has existed throughout the Anglo-Saxon world. But democracy ought to mean something more: it ought to mean the participation of every individual in its opportunities. And a constitution of society which still left the resources for power and intellectual direction in the hands of the few was in effect an aristocracy, and no complete democracy. Among these resources a chief is education. And the practical monopoly of education—and of books as an element in it—meant a monopoly of influence also,—a monopoly which survived after limitations of caste were removed and the opportunities for wealth became widely diffused. Against it the free public school, the easily available college, the cheaply procurable newspaper and magazine, and the free public library fought and are fighting their fight in the interest of the prerogative of the individual, in the endeavor to equip him as an independent and co-equal unit, so that the actual constitution of society shall accord with its political form, and indeed assure the efficiency and the permanence of the form.

So, having provided for the mass the interest has of late centred upon the individual.

Meantime, with the evolution from homogeneity to heterogeneity the individual himself has become more and more diversified in trait, aptitude and need; so that the treatment of him by the agencies acting for the community as a whole has also had to become varied. Not merely that, but pursuing its responsibilities, to become affirmative, where before, so far as it existed, it was merely responsive.

Now the service of school and college furnishing definite instruction and perhaps training, to an organized body of youth, within a limited age, and under control, can be reasonably systematized and standardized. But the library is to furnish not merely education but enlightenment, and even culture, to the community at large—without respect to age, and without subordination to control. It cannot impose, it does not control. It may recommend, but it cannot direct. It must still respond to a need voluntarily expressed; but its duty is held to go further: it must remind that the need exists,—it must even inspire the need,—that is to say, the consciousness of it. In this way it is engaged in creating the very demand which later it seeks to satisfy.

Now this duty upon it accounts for the prodigious energy in the effort itself, and the activity and range of the discussion, which are the characteristics of the modern library movement, particularly in English speaking America. It accounts for the incessant repetition of explanation, of exhortation, of recited experience, which give to a present-day library conference something of the aspect of a revival meeting.

To librarians of the older school these are somewhat distasteful; to librarians of the more modern school already convinced and experienced, they may be tedious; but they seem necessary still for the enlightenment and encouragement of others newly entering upon the problem, of a public not yet fully familiar with the relations of it to their own welfare, and to the helpful solution of local problems where the idea meets conditions still impeding: for the field is vast and conditions are still very unequal.

The efforts, still inchoate, include also many devices which are crude and of doubtful expediency: especially many designed chiefly to attract—in which the library seems to compete with other enterprises courting popularity in a way scarcely dignified for a public institution maintained by government. They shock the conservative in somewhat the same way as an advertisement by a lawyer or physician shocks the traditions of those reticent professions: and they include not merely schemes of advertising—which might seem to impair the dignity of the book, but auxiliaries for attracting attention such as savor of the devices of a business house in exploiting its goods. The ultimate aim is, of course, the commendation of the book itself,—and the justification lies—or is sought—in this. But the means,—well, the means often afflict the conservatives in the profession, and even cause uneasiness to certain of us among the progressives.

The compensating assurance is that they are the promptings of an enthusiasm in itself meritorious; that they are experiments; that they may prove to be expedients merely temporary, and that later they may be dispensed with after they have served their purpose. They are to rouse the dormant, stir the stagnant: but there are also other agencies at work to rouse and to stir; and the time may well come when the operation of these in combination will have achieved the creation of a spirit in the community safe to act upon its own initiative.

Apart from the portions of our programs devoted to the discussion of such methods and devices—which concern the direct action of a particular library upon its own constituents, is the portion—a large one—devoted to schemes of co-operation among our institutions as such in the interest of economy and therefore of efficiency—in their administration. These are necessarily technical, and their immediate interest is to the librarian rather than to the reader. But their ultimate benefit is to reach the reader,—particularly in freeing to his use a larger measure of the direct personal service of the administration, in interpreting the collections to his need. In proportion as they succeed in this they will achieve a reversion to that service held precious in the library of the older type,—which, lacking the modern apparatus, and with an imperfect collection, at least put the reader into direct contact with what it had, and gave him also the inspiring personal touch with an enthusiast already saturated with its contents: and which accordingly sent him forth with a grateful glow, too little, alas! evident in one relegated to the mere mechanism of modern library practice.

The mechanism became inevitable: the increase of the collections, the increase of the constituency, the greater diversity of the need, and the demand that this should be met promptly, have required it. This isn't so apparent to the public, who think of the problem—of getting the right book to the individual reader—in only its simplest terms. But to us librarians it is not merely apparent but urgent. And accordingly we expend upon it a length and a zest of discussion that quite mystify the portions of our audiences outside of the craft.

What impels us is that the mechanism is not merely elaborate: it is expensive. It is the more so in proportion as it is variant in form and involves a multiplication of expense by each library acting independently in its own behalf. Our effort, and the purpose of our discussions, is therefore to promote a standardization of the form and a co-operative centralization of the work itself, in which our libraries as a whole may secure a participating benefit.

Now the mechanism consists of certain apparatus necessarily independent with each library—administrative records, charging systems, etc.; but also of classification, catalog and bibliography. All of these may be standardized,—but the opportunity for a co-operation which may save expense occurs chiefly in the three last named. The extravagance, the needless extravagance, of an absence of it represented by the old conditions was little apparent to the general public or to boards of control. It becomes obvious when one considers that thousands of libraries receiving hundreds of identical books,—and hundreds of libraries receiving thousands of identical books—were each undertaking independently the expense of cataloging and classifying these: thus multiplying by exactly their number the total cost of the community. As against this, the economy of a system under which a particular book shall be cataloged—and perhaps classified—at some central point once for all, and the result made available in multiple form to all libraries receiving copies of it—needs only to be stated to be convincing. A condition of it is, in the case of classification, identity in the basic scheme and notation, in the case of catalog identity in the form, and uniformity in the practice. The general availability of bibliographic lists does not depend upon either, though convenienced by both.

Identity in classification seems still remote, nor does the undoubted vogue of the Decimal scheme assure it: for this is chiefly among the smaller libraries. In the larger, the Decimal scheme, where adopted, is apt to be accompanied by variations of detail, which mean a variation in the place and symbol assigned to a particular book, and thus bar the general adoption of a decision in the classification of it made at any central bureau. So far as this variance affects the direct administration of a particular library it may be unimportant: for the arrangement of its own books upon its own shelves—provided this is based on a subject scheme, consistently carried out—may be sufficiently effective for its own purposes, even though purely individual with itself. What it implies, however, in multiplication of an expense that might be avoided by the adoption of an identical scheme, is of an import very serious. The construction of a scheme which should suit equally all libraries and all librarians is not to be expected. The best that can be hoped for is a scheme sound in its fundaments and upon which the concessions of individual preference necessary will be only as to detail. The reluctance—of librarians—to make such concessions is due, I think, to an exaggerated estimate of the importance of classification as such—that is to say, of the precise location of a particular book in a given collection; a failure to realize—what experience should have taught—that in many groups no location can be absolutely permanent, owing to changes in the literary output and in the subject relation of that group to the rest. This reluctance is, I fear, one of the conservatisms least creditable to the profession. It induces tenacity in adhesion to systems adopted, and it leads to the adoption of new systems devised to accord with supposed idiosyncrasies of a particular collection—or pursuant to the ingenious inventiveness of a particular librarian. I can express myself the more frankly because in this latter respect the Library of Congress has itself been a sinner;—and one not yet come to repentance. For at the outset of its problem it found the Decimal classification in considerable vogue, the Expansive in considerable favor. And it adopted neither, but proceeded to devise a scheme of its own. It did this out of declared necessity, with regard to its supposed interests; and considering those interests alone the results have seemed a justification. They are even being utilized in certain other institutions, and though not proffered as a model for general adoption, they render even now a general service in proving the economy of centralizing the process of classification, as well as that of cataloging, at some central point or points from which the decisions may radiate.

The general availability of a catalog entry depends of course upon uniformity in cataloging practice as well as identity in size and form of the card itself,—if the result takes the form of a card. Agreement in this has fortunately been rapid, and we have now in English speaking American a set of decisions, embodied in a code of rules—substantially accepted among our own libraries and even substantially acceptable to the libraries of Great Britain. Between continental practice and our own variances still exist, and bar the complete interchange of results. One cannot doubt, however, that time will eradicate, or adjust these also.

Between bibliography as distinguished from classification and cataloging, there exist, however, no such impediments; and the centralization of bibliographic work—co-operation in it—is progressing apace.

The prospect is, therefore, fairly cheerful that librarians will be able in the near future to free themselves and their funds from undue attention to the mere mechanism of their craft, and more completely to devote their resources and personal service to the book as literature, and the reader as a human being.

The spirit for this is ardent. It is manifest in our two countries as nowhere else in like degree. As regards the reader it calls itself proudly "the missionary spirit"; it seeks him, appraises him, sympathizes with him, counsels him. It does not doubt its duty in this to be an affirmative one. But as regards the book itself it is not yet so decisive. For in the selection of what it is to offer it still concedes much to what is called the "popular taste"—which means the popular fancy of the moment, ignoring in doing so its prerogative as an "educational" institution to assert standards, and to abide by them. Its hope is to improve the taste itself; and the need of this—its appropriateness as a function of the library, and the means of effecting it—are to be a main feature of the program of this conference. They are justly so,—even though they are matters of concern chiefly for that type of library which is engaged in serving the public at large. It is, however, precisely that type of library with which also the duty should lie of representing the standards established by time, and the taste represented by the more refined rather than by the average instincts of the community. And as the temptation—to make concessions is also peculiarly theirs—the responsibility is particularly upon them, their librarians, their trustees, and the conservative in public opinion—to assert this duty and to conform to it. The assertion of it may cause resentment; but this will prove merely individual; it is not likely to organize into formidable resistance. And in time it will become merely sporadic. It will tend to diminish in proportion as associations such as this, in conferences such as this, declare solidly for the authority of the library in such decisions—while clearly distinguishing it from any censorship of literature as such.

The temptation to court "popularity"—natural in institutions maintained at the public expense and therefore dependent upon the favor of city councils—has another phase which I hope may prove but transitory. It is in the exploitation of the service done by the books which are the "tools of trade" as against those making for general information, or general culture. The supposition is that the service of the first named is one which will convince certain important opinion as a "practical" service, and particularly that it will appeal to those who are just now insistent upon vocational studies as the studies to be given right of way in the education of youth. The temptation is the greater because the service of a book of this sort is a service whose results are readily demonstrable, it is concrete and objective;—while that of general literature is but subjective.

Its importance cannot be questioned, nor the duty of the library to perform it, nor the success of our public libraries in the actual performance of it. The only criticism might be lest in the emphasis upon it, our libraries may seem to underestimate, if not to disparage, that other service which in its ulterior benefit to the community may prove of even greater importance; that service which reminds the public that livelihood is not the main purpose of life, nor the present, the local and the particular, the only era, the only place, the only thing worthy of consideration and regard. The books which achieve this may have their greatest value in offsetting the tendencies of mere industry. This is not to say, however, that they may not advance industry itself; for though they may not improve the mere dexterity of a particular individual in a profession, art or trade, they may aid to that sense of proportion, that larger view of a worldwide relation which will advance the art itself; and they cultivate the imagination which is the essential of modern industry in its larger relations.

As, therefore, our colleges still stand for the utility of the general studies even in a career looking to vocation, so our libraries may well stand for the utility of the general literature. Particularly is this duty upon them since the opportunity—in its relation to the community at large—is uniquely theirs: for no other agency—not even the museum, or the art gallery, or the theatre, the opera house, or the concert hall—potent as may be the influence of these—matches the book in power and availability in this service of quickening the sensibilities, refining the taste, enlarging the understanding, diversifying the experience, warming the heart and clarifying the soul.

And this service—understood everywhere—is nowhere—save perhaps in England—quite so completely followed into its consequences as in Canada and the United States. The conviction of it grounds our libraries upon a public opinion assuring permanent support; and inspires among individuals enthusiasm for gift and endowment. The greater, therefore, the responsibility of librarians and trustees to see to it that this conviction, this enthusiasm and the resources which they provide shall be so utilized as to effect not merely the most showy but the most substantial results.

And the responsibility should include not merely a zeal for the general reader, but a regard for the scholar: since a benefit to the general reader may end with himself, but a benefit to the scholar becomes amplified and diffused through him. He is not, be it understood, a class by himself. He includes the specialist whose vocation is research in a particular field; but he includes also the reader for whom research is but an avocation. He is the unusual man, but he is also the usual man in his unusual moments. What is the conscious aim of the one may be the incidental achievement of the other—to advance knowledge. And the aid rendered by the library to either may be of a consequence to the community more far reaching than the mere diffusion of ascertained knowledge among a multitude of individuals.

If the effort of our libraries in this direction has not kept pace with their efforts in the others, the explanation is obvious in the emphasis necessary upon the others during the past fifty years. But the time has come when the obligation to the scholar should resume its due place—in our programs, as well as in our practice.

And with the resumption of that interest may we not hope for a recognition—a recognition—in our organizations also of that type which gave personality to the libraries of old?—I mean the type represented by the Panizzis, the Garnetts, the Winsors, Pooles, Cutters and Spoffords. For however indifferent such men may have been, or might be today, to the mere mechanism which of late we have been exalting, and which we must hold to be necessary under modern conditions, they succeeded in producing an atmosphere which had a potency of its own, which no mere mechanism can reproduce, and for which the zeal of routine personal service, however "missionary" in spirit, cannot be a substitute. For the mechanism gives the impression of intervening between the reader and the book; and the routine personal service fails from the very nature of its effort. The reader reached out to may be pleased and aided: but he loses the lesson and the penetrating suggestion afforded by the mere absorption of the old-time librarian in the book itself. It was that which once took the visitor out of himself, away from affairs, and gave him touch with a different world, a sense of different values. Does he not miss it now? I think he does; and that, however he may respect the mere efficiency of the modern librarian, as administrator, his really affectionate admiration turns back to the librarian of the old school whose soul was lifted above mere administration, or the method of the moment, or the manner of insistent service, and whose passionate regard was rather for the inside of a book than for the outside of a reader,—even the librarian to whom a reader seemed indeed but an interruption to an abstraction that was privileged.

I for one, should be sorry to think that this type has passed finally. There is need for it; there should be a place. I trust that it will be restored to us; and I deplore the influence upon the younger generation in our profession of referring to it with condescension if not with contempt.

"Our profession." I use the term because it is current. We have assumed it, and no one has challenged it. There are grounds on which it might, I suppose, be challenged. "The word implies," according to the Century Dictionary, "professed attainments in special knowledge, as distinguished from mere skill; a practical dealing with affairs, as distinguished from mere study or investigation; and an application of such knowledge to uses for others as a vocation, as distinguished from its pursuit for one's own purposes." The latter two requirements are certainly met: we are engaged in practical affairs, and to the use of others. But the "professed attainments in special knowledge, as distinguished from mere skill," while certainly represented in individuals among us, are not with us conditions of librarianship as a vocation or as an office, nor have we in America, as they have in Germany, the conventional preparation, the preliminary examination as to qualifications, and the license which by law or usage are requirements in the professions strictly so-called. A profession should imply uniform standards in such qualifications: but the qualifications of persons accepted among us for library posts of importance,—even among persons who have made notable successes in such posts, vary extraordinarily in both kind and degree. A profession should imply a certain homogeneity in ideals, methods and relations; while among us there is still a notable diversity. The modern library with its large establishment and organization, and the responsibility of large funds, has, like the modern university, created a demand in its administrators for the traits necessary in business rather than characteristic of the professions or expected of them. (This demand, and the vogue of woman in our work—a vogue which finds its completest recognition at this meeting—are indeed the most notable of recent phenomena affecting our personnel.) As yet the conventional training has not attracted a sufficiency of men and women with such traits to meet the need; nor has it, on the other hand, attracted a sufficient number of men and women grounded in special branches of the sciences and the arts to fill the positions in our research libraries which administer, and should interpret, the literature of these. The actual personnel of our association includes therefore the utmost diversity in trait, education and experience.

A considerable such diversity exists among teachers, and does not disentitle them to the claim of constituting a profession; and we are sometimes called educators. But we cannot claim to be, for we lack the didactic authority, purpose and method.

The final characteristic of a profession is its influence upon the community as such. Now, our lack of such an influence as a body is in part due to the lack of that homogeneity in ideal method and personnel—but in part also to the necessary limitations of our office. We are necessarily non-partisan. We are to furnish impartially the ammunition for both sides of every issue. The moment we become identified with a single side merely, we lose our influence and our authority. And it matters not whether the issue be political, or theological or economic or social. If it be scientific, or merely literary, we have more freedom, since the subject matter is more nearly academic and less emotional. But even here we must avoid the charge of faddism. In a contest of morality we may indeed take side against the baser, because with this we have no influence and no need to court one. But there are today few moral issues clearly distinguishable as such in which there is need or temptation for us to engage.

The result of this neutrality is an attitude which to the world at large must seem somewhat colourless; but also a habit of mind which insensibly in itself becomes neutral. We are content to be observers. We avoid becoming contestants. Such characteristics do not go to the solidification of opinion in a profession, nor to the assertion of it in an aggressive way.

The sum total of all of which (observations upon us) is that in spite of our numbers, in spite of the momentous aggregate that our "establishment" represents, in spite of the assured place which it occupies in the community and the social system, we are at present, and in many ways must continue to be, an aggregate of individuals rather than a body politic. But even as the Devil's advocate I would not so conclude in a deprecatory sense, for we may find and show many reasons for complacency—and special opportunities for service—in the relations which this situation implies.

My original invitation was a large one: no less than to estimate the place of the library in English-speaking America. I have not attempted to comply with it: for it seemed too large for my fraction of this program. But as a theme it was enticing. And so would have been the reverse of it,—that is, the place of English-speaking America in the development of the library. That also will perhaps be worthy of treatment at some large opportunity. One particular aspect of it is suggested by a letter of Francis Lieber to General Halleck, fifty-seven years ago. It runs—

"... Have you laid the foundation of a great public library in California? Your state, above all others, ought largely to provide public funds for a library,—say $20,000 a year for the first five years, and then, permanently so much a year. We cannot do in our days without large public libraries, and libraries are quite as necessary as hospitals or armies. Libraries are the bridges over which Civilization travels from generation to generation and from country to country, bridges that span over the widest oceans; and California will yet be the buttress of the bridge over which encircling civilization will pass to Asia, whence it first came...."[1]

[1] From "Life and letters of Francis Lieber." Edited by Thomas Sergeant Perry. Boston. 1882.

If California may be such a buttress, what may we not propound of English-speaking America as a whole—from which through its universities and colleges occidental ideals and methods are already being transmitted to the Orient through the effective medium of students sent here for their education?

Such are some of the thoughts with which some of us at least approach this conference. They are thoughts, even if, as yet, only in part satisfactions. There is a satisfaction, however, which is dominant with those of us who come from over the border. It is that this conference is to be held on Canadian soil; and that here, with the broad welcome extended to us, with a common subject matter, and with purposes in connection with it that can awaken neither cavil nor suspicion, we are free to indulge in reciprocities that will be complete, mutual, and enduring.

Mr. Lawrence J. Burpee read the following telegram from the private secretary of the Duke of Connaught, which was received with hearty applause:

The Governor-General wishes meeting of American Library Association every success and His Royal Highness regrets exceedingly that it is impossible for him to be present at your annual meeting tomorrow.

Mr. BURPEE: Similar letters of regret have been received from the Right Honorable Prime Minister and several members of the cabinet and from Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and we are yet in hopes that Sir Wilfrid will be able to be with us on Dominion Day.

I have been asked by the Dominion Archivist and by the Director of the Victoria museum and the Custodian of the National gallery to extend to you a most hearty welcome to visit those institutions, and I have also been asked by the president of the Ottawa Electric Railway to say that the railway would like you to consider yourselves guests of the company while here, and that the A. L. A. button will identify us sufficiently.

The CHAIRMAN: The work of the local committee has been done largely by two men,—Dr. Otto Klotz and Mr. Lawrence J. Burpee,—and perhaps at a later session we will have occasion to give thanks to Mr. Burpee, who behind the scenes has made our official tasks come so lightly and so easily.

The secretary read a cablegram bearing greetings from the New Zealand Libraries Association, through the secretary, Mr. Herbert Baillie, librarian of the Wellington (N. Z.) public library.

Adjourned.

FIRST GENERAL SESSION

(Russell Theatre, Thursday, June 27, 9:30 a. m.)

The PRESIDENT: I have the honor to announce that the Thirty-fourth Annual Conference of the American Library Association is now open. It seems to me, with the welcome given us this morning, in the beautiful sunshiny weather, nearly as bright and genial as the welcome that we were given last night, we open under very happy auspices indeed, and I hope that when you hear the speakers as they shall take up the matters on the program, you will feel that the auspices have been very well carried out.

I shall have the pleasure to talk to you for a very few moments on the subject as printed on the program.

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

The Public Library: "A Leaven'd and Preparéd Choice"

Last evening's jesting pretense that the party from the States had stopped on the border and removed the boundary line to bring it with them here, into the very Canadian capital, was not quite all a jest. The American Library Association is itself a witness that though the boundary line firmly and clearly defines the limits of rule of the two countries in some great and essential things, some

"Glories of our blood and state,"

it need not, it does not, even divide, still less alienate, the two peoples.

It is one of the worthiest, most auspicious foundations of the American Library Association that it is, and has ever been, continental not national in its sympathy and membership. Within its circle "all who profess and call themselves" English-speaking may unite their best thought and their best endeavor for this important public service.

There are many fundamental library principles that are common to both countries and your Program Committee has intended to arrange the program and discussions to take account of these, leaving to other and minor meetings such things as are national or local in their bearing. The committee has wished to transcend all division by boundary lines. By so much the jest was fact.

The attempt has been made to stand away from detail of all sorts so far that it may be possible to see the library world as "a world" indeed, "a whole of parts," as a system of members, each member distinct yet, by virtue of the very peculiarities which constitute its distinctness, contributing to the unity of the whole.

We shall fail to see the library world thus, as a world, as a whole unless, amid the mass of facts, of experiences, of needs, of adaptations involved, we can finally discern and seize upon the true center, the truly dominant thing.

If we could once see the true center as the center, and the mass of detail taking ordered place about it; if we could once perceive the dominant that should surely rule, and lesser matters in due subjection to that rule, then from the obvious things ever before our eyes, and only too familiar, by that very familiarity made difficult to apprehend, the library might all at once appeal as an entity, as a clear conception. So the forest becomes visible to the artist's eyes, the forest, formed of trees, but never really seen until all at once in the vision of the forest the trees are lost to sight.

Some modes of thought, some phrases of expression which have been used are those which the philosopher has weighed and clarified for his own carefully measured statements. Do not smile at my temerity, and on the other hand do not be in the least alarmed. I ventured but a little way and you will not be called to go far into the philosopher's country under my lead. Even if one be no swimmer it is an experience to venture out, with careful balance, feeling for secure foothold upon the solid bed, even a little way into a mighty stream whose full mid-current would sweep over one's head. One gets, out of even so limited an adventure, a sense of the sweep of the river, feels the embrace and pull of the current, stoops to drink a little of the clear, bright, deep waters, ever thereafter to thirst for deeper draughts and to long for strength and mastery to plunge into and breast the full stream.

In trying to find warrant for my own thoughts and ordered and lucid statement for them, I have sought and consulted certain books and some of them were too hard for my full reading. I shall not further acknowledge my debt now but, once more departing from precedent, I shall list them for print at the end of the address.

In the wish to find the center or dominant of the library world it would be presumptuous for me to dogmatize and say "Lo here! this is the point," or "Behold! this is the principle." In the very name of the institution which we are talking about there are two elements joined—Public, and Library—and it seems quite obviously proper to try the first as the center.

Perhaps the application which follows might repel some as narrow, as exclusive of any but a single type of libraries. The principle itself may, however, be made to apply to the entire library world by recognizing as "public" all libraries which are not private, and by defining public anew as applied to each group or type of libraries, always letting it include all those individuals for whose use and pleasure the library is maintained.

What does "public" signify in Canada and the United States? What but all the people of these two great experiments in democratic society? Pray note that I say society not government. An excursion into discussion of the latter might involve dabbling in the stream of politics which would threaten dangers far more imminent, for me, than philosophy promised. To consider democratic society for a few moments very simply is a less hazardous matter.

What is any society but "a world" again, a whole, in which the great thing that matters is the level and fullness of mind that is reached through the diversities of complete development and perfection of the individual members which compose it?

The level of value and happiness for the whole can only be raised by raising the condition of the individuals and, on the other hand, that individuality is the most complete, of most real, felt value to itself, which contributes to the perfection of the whole, because it is only thus that the individual is conscious of having done his utmost.

Why try to say it again when the philosopher has said it so exactly?

"What a man really cares about—so it seems to me—may be described as making the most of the trust he has received. He does not value himself as a detached and purely self-identical subject. He values himself as the inheritor of the gifts and surroundings which are focussed in him and which it is his business to raise to their highest power. The attitude of the true noble, one in whom noblesse oblige is a simple example of what, mutatis mutandis, all men feel. The man is a representative, a trustee for the world, of certain powers and circumstances. And this cannot fail to be so. For suffering and privation are also opportunities. The question for him is how much he can make of them. This is the simple and primary point of view, and also, in the main, the true and fundamental one. It is not the bare personality or the separate destiny that occupies a healthy mind. It is the thing to be done, known and felt; in a word, the completeness of experience, his contribution to it, and his participation in it.

"At every point the web of experience is continuous; he cannot distinguish his part from that of others, and the more he realizes the continuity the less he cares about the separateness of the contribution to it.... It is impossible to overrate the co-operative element in experience."

Does it not appear then that the highest possible service to the public is service to the individual, in giving to the individual stimulus and opportunity for the fullest, most diverse, most perfect development, creating thus a world the more enriched, the more unified, in that each of its members has rich powers, functions and experience of his own?

But the crux is to come. A people, a society, is made up of individuals of diverse tastes and powers, but it includes very many who are far short of being fully alive to the powers which they may possess. If the span of such lives passes thus, if no stimulus, no illumination reaches them, life will be uninspired, unfruitful of much service, or much joy. It will not be life at its full, nor "the soul at its highest stretch."

It is not always afar from our own doors that such things happen. President Eliot says, "Do we not all know many people who seem to live in a mental vacuum—to whom, indeed, we have great difficulty in attributing immortality, because they have so little life except that of the body?"

From such conditions not only individuals but all society suffers. As a spot of unnourished, inactive tissue in a human body is a host ready to receive any one of many forms of disease, so, in the body politic, individuals not fulfilling their utmost best are soil made ready for all manner of social and political ills.

The time may come when society will recognize that many social and political ills are partly caused by its own neglect, and call not for more restrictions, for more stringent laws and severer sentences, but rather for more carefully and universally given opportunity.

Listen once more to the philosopher.

"The more highly differentiated the individuals composing a society, the more complete becomes the social bond between them. A man who feels that he is rendering to the community a service at once indispensable and only to be performed by himself, will have come near to fulfilling his part in the highest attainable scheme of social harmony."

If this be true, then there seems clear warrant for saying that the community, for its own sake, has a vital interest in trying to secure for each individual the most effective opportunity not only for discovering what his distinct contribution may be made, but also for developing his power to render that contribution most completely.

Does the community anywhere concern itself to give such opportunities? Democratic society has recognized its necessity to give a certain amount of knowledge and training by means of its schools. It is beginning to make the experiment of giving a certain amount of skill to earn a livelihood. This teaching is done in classes and a class is made up of individuals of similar knowledge and attainments, and to them is given general and identical information which tends to produce like results. The community has need for unlikeness, for individuals who can render unique service.

The community can never decide what the special individual aptitude may be. No living soul can discover for another. The "power to become" is innate and must make its own response to the stimulus which is capable of affecting it.

It is true that the universe is a great battery incessantly sending an infinity of calls of infinitely varied messages. But the receiving operator may be asleep, he may never come within range. The universe is very wide. The range of experience of all is narrow, of some pitifully narrow.

Because of lack of opportunity to see, to do, to know, to feel, it is not exaggeration to say that multitudes live a half-alive existence, never useful to their possible limit, never happy to their full, for happiness is "felt perfection."

From the beginning of time, some men have received their messages, found their work, given their service, lived life to the full and laid it down with a will. The record of these men and their accomplishment, of man's great adventure to find himself, has been written by many hands, and that record is literature.

Arnold says, "To know ourselves and the world we have, as a means to this end, to know the best that has been thought or said in the world," and "Literature may mean everything written or printed in a book."

The library is the reservoir of literature, a collection of books, but it is something more, it comes to have identity, a self of its own beyond the sum of all its books, when, by the fusing of the whole under the vital power of the minds that gather and order it, it becomes, in the Shakespearian phrase embodied in my title, "A leaven'd and preparéd choice."

The library is the one place where time and space are set at naught. It is the microcosm of the universe.

Here all the wonders of nature are flashed back from the mirrors of eyes that have beheld them.

Here India, and the Arctic and the isles of the sea are as close at hand as Niagara.

Here Archimedes' lever, Giotto's circle, Newton's apple, Palissy's furnace, Jacquard's loom, Jamie Watt's tea-kettle, Franklin's kite are cheek by jowl with the last Marconigram.

Here the fate of Aristides, of Columbus, of Gordon is as clear to read as the doings of yesterday in Chicago.

The record of what happened at Thermopylæ, at Lucknow, at the Alamo receives beside it the tale of the courage that rose as the Titanic sank.

What Buddha and Socrates and Jesus taught answers the cry and strengthens the heart of doubt and pain today.

The library is the great whispering gallery of noble deeds and, catching a whisper,

"The youth replies, I can"

and goes forth.

The library is haunted with visions of beauty that Plato, that Michael Angelo, that Shelley saw—the youth exclaims "I see!" and follows his lure.

Here Clotho sits twirling her "thread-running spindle" and the youth, catching the clue, fares forth whither the fateful thread leads.

The library is almost never the goal but to many it may be the starting point whence they go forth "to strength and endeavor, love and sacrifice, the making and achievement of souls."

The public for whom the library exists has little conception or comprehension of its power. How shall such publicity as will give this knowledge of it be given?

Such publicity should make clear the larger aspects of the library's service, showing that the life of any society is "an indivisible inheritance" and the welfare of all made or marred by the condition and service of each one, therefore the library should be equipped to be universal in its appeal and service, a public necessity for individual use.

The public for whom the library exists gives it support insufficient for the task it should perform. If the library commanded respect would it not receive funds?

Books are the treasure to be gathered for its work. What shall be the principles of buying? How create the "leaven'd and preparéd choice?"

Books are the medium of appeal, the stuff of human knowledge, experience and wisdom stored by means of the printed leaf. The extent to which each individual shares in the stored treasure of the race-mind, is, in its sum, the measure of public safety and happiness and the starting-point for service. How show, how make known the attraction and stored power of books?

Every individual must choose his own path. How leave him free to choose in a wide field?

Service, but not authority, must be at hand. What shall the tests of fitness for such service be?

The staff fit for such service must be of rare material and quality.

The members of the staff are instruments of the highest elaboration and most delicate adjustment. The requisite quality of service can only be rendered under fit conditions. It is not a matter of knowledge, conscience and will solely, it is a matter of these things plus insight, sympathy and response. Exhaustion, or an approach to it, discouragement from lack of appreciation, are like a ground wire for loss of power. Body, mind and spirit are all involved in this service. How conserve their strength, well-being and joy?

Unskilled people cannot render fit service. What are the things that matter in training? How far can training be effective.

These are the subjects that your Program Committee has thought it might interest all to consider. Certain leaders will discuss them, each according to his own will and way. In their wisdom and in that of the discussions with which you will follow them will lie all the value of this conference.

Books Consulted: A Short List

Bosanquet, Bernard. The principle of individuality and value. Macmillan. 1912.

Bryce, James. The American Commonwealth. Vol. 2, p. 828, and chapter CII. Macmillan. 1910.

Chesterton, G. K. Manalive. Lane. 1912.

Douglas, Robert. The choice. Macmillan. 1911.

Eliot, C. W. The function of education in democratic society. In his Educational reform. Century. 1908.

Goldmark, Josephine. Fatigue and efficiency. Charities Pub. Co. 1912.

Hobhouse, L. T. The individual and the state. In his Social evolution and political theory. Columbia Univ. Press. 1911.

—Liberalism. Holt. 1911.

Jones, Henry. Idealism as a personal creed. Macmillan. 1909.

—Working faith of the social reformer. Macmillan. 1910.

Macdonald, Greville. The child's inheritance: its scientific and imaginative meaning. Smith, Elder. 1910.

Mark, Thiselton. The unfolding of personality as the chief aim of education. Univ. of Chicago Press. 1911.

Sidis, Boris. Philistine and genius. Moffatt. 1911.

Woodberry, G. E. The torch: eight lectures on race power in literature. McClure. 1905.

The PRESIDENT: I have very great pleasure in presenting one who in truth needs no introduction to you; one who has not for some time appeared on our platform but whom I know you will all welcome with pleasure, Miss TESSA L. KELSO.

Miss Kelso, of the Baker and Taylor Co., New York City, spoke informally from notes only on the topic, "Publicity for the sake of information: the librarian's point of view," and has been unable to furnish a copy of her remarks for publication.

The PRESIDENT: I think you may have seen it mentioned once or twice in the course of your reading, that there was such a thing as the "Wisconsin idea." Now, I would not for a moment, having been born in that lovely state, have you get any notion that that "Wisconsin idea" is singular. We have therefore asked to come and talk to us this morning a gentleman who, those closest to him say, is a repository of "Wisconsin ideas," and I have great pleasure in introducing to you Mr. WILLIAM H. HATTON,—"Mr." Hatton by request, though he is ordinarily known in his own country as Senator Hatton.

PUBLICITY FOR THE SAKE OF INFORMATION: THE PUBLIC'S POINT OF VIEW

When man first discovered that his hands would respond to the command of his brain and that he could use a club to defend himself from his enemy, and that he could through combined mental and physical effort, react upon his environment, the gateway on the road to continuous progress was opened to mankind.

The potential power of man cannot be measured. The Creator, in so far as we are able to judge, has fixed no limits to man's progress. The only limitations are his lack of knowledge and his lack of power to discern the true relations of the forces which surround him.

Mankind is a social organism, not a collection of separate and independent parts. Where any part is neglected and fails to develop so as to discharge efficiently its function, the whole organization suffers. Therefore society is not only deeply interested in education during childhood and adolescence, but it is concerned in the education of man throughout his whole life. The public is as much concerned in the education of the man of forty years of age as it is in the education of the boy of five years. One of the chief functions of the state is to secure justice, equity and equality of opportunity. Dr. Lester F. Ward says, "There can be no equality, no justice, not to speak of equity, so long as society is composed of members, equally endowed by nature, a few of whom only possess the social heritage of truth and ideas resulting from laborious investigation and profound meditations of all past ages, while the mass are shut out from all the light that human achievement has shed upon the world."

What shall be done that this "light of human achievement" shall penetrate the cloud of ignorance and cause the lamp of wisdom to burn in every home? Your reply doubtless will be, "The formal training of the schools." Yes; that is a step in the right direction, but all will agree that the training of the schools is only and can be only a beginning, a learning how to acquire and assimilate knowledge and develop power. There must be other institutions and agencies which shall carry forward the work of education, if we are to have that continuous and universal development which is possible and desirable.

The library is peculiarly suited for this work and its power and future influence are not fully appreciated even by those engaged in library work. It is not necessary to say to this audience that the public library is an essential part of a complete educational system and that there should be harmony within the system.

The training in the schools should be such as shall make a beginning at least in the preparation for social life and social service, in the broad sense. The students should be shown that the library is a social mirror, a record of the social activities of mankind. If for any cause students leave school, they should be in such close relation to the library and be so familiar with library methods that they will be encouraged to continue studying; thus we shall find the book in the hand of the worker, the ideal condition, assisting him in solving his problems and opening to him visions of life of which he had never dreamed.

The school authorities should never overlook the fact that the average time which the individual student attends school is short; but be it short or long, pupils should be trained in the use of the library, and taught how to find in books answers to their questions. Questions which shall require students to go to the library should be regularly given them. In the higher grades and in the high schools emphasis should be placed on library work. Students should not only be required to read certain specified books, as supplementary reading, but there should be regular assignments of topics for investigation, which will require them to use the library and other sources of information, thus training them in research methods and developing their power of original investigation. By this method their school work will become a living motive-force in their lives.

The colleges and universities offer a great number of courses. So many subjects are open for study that the most that can be done during the college years is to select a few and concentrate effort upon those selected and leave the great field of knowledge for future exploration and conquest. Therefore, if a student leaves college with high ideals and an ambition to explore still further the field of knowledge and develop his individuality, his immediate need is a good library. Therein is the crystallized wisdom of ages held in "magic preservation." Here he may find freedom for the development of his individuality and be able to increase his power to react on his environment, enabling him to find profit, pleasure and culture in the various activities of life.

But has he learned how to use the library? Let us take the testimony of Dr. Harper, former president of the University of Chicago. "It is pitiable," he said, "to find that many graduates of our very best colleges are unable, after taking up the more advanced work of the divinity school or other graduate courses, to make use of books. They find nothing; they do not know how to proceed in order to find anything. No more important, no more useful training can be given men in college than that which relates to the use of books. Why do so many men give up reading when they leave college? Because in college they have never learned the use of books."

This is the testimony of a man of wide experience. A college librarian should be a person of strong personality and broad culture, and the example of some of the universities and colleges of making the librarian a member of the faculty should be followed by all colleges. The most important work for schools and colleges is to arouse in the students the spirit of research, train them in research methods, and develop their powers of independent investigation. Impress upon them the fact that education cannot be received but must be acquired, and that the acquisition of knowledge is a process co-extensive with life.

President Hibben of Princeton says, "It is the nature of education that it does not result in a complete and finished product, but rather a progressive process. There is nothing final about it. Its achievements always mark new beginnings. Education must always be defined in terms of life, of growth, of progress."

It will be readily seen that those who complete the regular courses of the schools, colleges and universities need the library. It is well known that the majority do not take advantage fully of the opportunities offered by the schools, but for various reasons they drop out all along the line. For these we need the library. We have a large immigration of adults from foreign lands. These people come here to make homes and to take part in our government. Self-government requires knowledge and understanding. Great questions are constantly arising which demand intelligent action. Ignorance, whether it be the ignorance of the rich or of the poor, is a menace. One of our grave social problems is the ignorance and indifference of the ostentatious rich. Rich in material things, but poor in the things which make life rich. They have not learned that every man owes a debt to society that can be paid only in service. Complex our social organization is and it is becoming more complex each year. Grave questions are before us for solution. The people in general have no adequate conception of the possibilities of the library, when properly organized, as an effective force for dealing with these conditions; and it is doubtful if the most optimistic librarians appreciate what may be, and will be done in the future with this great instrument of education. A community without a public library lacks an essential of a well organized community.

Let us have in the library men and women of broad culture who have had special training in psychology and sociology, who are sincerely and sympathetically devoted to humanity. Let this great educational institution be directed by people of commanding power, trained for public service, who have entered the profession as a life work, salaries to correspond, with qualifications required and services rendered. We say services rendered because all service must be rendered before it can be measured. The library will thus become the center of intellectual activities of the community, a continuation school, a local university.

Society is under obligation to furnish every means possible for the development of human capacity. There is in the world latent talent and capacity beyond measure. For the development of this latent talent, society is in a measure responsible. If opportunity is offered, capacity will develop.

Great forces surround us pressing for admission to our lives, telephones, electric light, printing, anæsthesia, antiseptics, synthetic chemistry, wireless telegraphy, etc. These things have always been possible but the cloud of ignorance obscured man's vision, and kept him from realizing his power.

The degree to which a community discharges its obligation can be measured by the opportunities it offers for the development of the members of that community. To offer better opportunities for those who wish to continue their studies and to bring together those of like tastes and desires, let there be opened seminar rooms in the library building, or in other buildings which shall be under the control of the library authorities. To these seminar rooms bring students, from every walk of life, to study under competent direction and to investigate subjects in which they are interested either from a material or cultural point of view. Only a small percentage of those who complete the high school course go to college. There should be provided graduate courses for the high school graduates, and other students of like qualifications in these seminar rooms, directed by the library staff. The school teachers and library staff can meet in these seminar rooms and discuss questions of common interest; and also pursue advanced studies. These rooms should be the centers for university extension work.

People can be brought together here for study and discussion of questions of citizenship, government, civic betterment, and all questions pertaining to social adjustment. Study groups can be formed for regular and systematic study under the direction of competent teachers. People of all ages can be brought together for study, which is impossible under our present system of education. In these groups the mature man and woman of high ideals will exert a powerful influence upon the young. Through this system regular and systematic reading under competent direction can be encouraged. Teachers and parents can meet in these seminar rooms and discuss school questions.

Continuation schools should be maintained. Bring the people from their vocations to these continuation schools; out of these schools organize classes for special work in the library seminar rooms; thus may be secured the union of instruction and practical application which make for increased efficiency, cultivates the whole man, and brightens his life.

John Stuart Mill said, "The business of life is an essential part of the practical education of a people without which book and school and instruction, though most necessary and salutary, does not suffice to qualify them for conduct and for adaptation of means to ends. Instruction is only one of the desiderata of mental improvement. Another indispensable, is vigorous exercise of active energies."

It matters not how highly we value the formal training of the colleges we must never overlook the fact that a very large majority do not have the full benefit of such training. We must therefore deal with conditions as they exist. When we call to mind the names and careers of such men as Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, Hugh Miller, Herbert Spencer, Richard Baxter, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Faraday, Sir Humphrey Davey, Horace Greeley, Sir William Herschel, we come to realize that many of the brightest stars in the world's constellation have been cut and polished by forces other than the formal training of the schools. Wide is the field and great is the opportunity.

The question may be raised, "How shall we secure the money for this great work?" We are expending in the United States more than two-thirds of our national income for wars past and for military purposes, educating men to destroy. Let this fact come to the knowledge of our people and a demand will be made to cut down the appropriations for educating men to destroy and increase the appropriations for educating men to construct.

A hundred years of peaceful intercourse between two great nations, Canada and the United States, with over three thousand miles of boundary without a gunboat or a soldier, is the best answer to the militarist who would spent the money for instruments of destruction that should be used for instruments of construction.

How shall we bring to the knowledge of the people information relating to this great work? There are more than twenty millions of students in the schools of Canada and the United States. These students touch directly or indirectly every home. With libraries at various local centers correlated with the schools, we have what may be called the nervous system of education of these great nations. Through this system the people may be reached more uniformly and regularly than in any other way. Here is a great body of people seeking information coming into direct contact with the homes.

Therefore we put the schools in the first place as a means of publicity for the sake of information. Let us bring the library and the schools into closer relation. Render service to mankind wherever mankind is. The best publicity is secured through services rendered. The patronage of the lawyer and physician depends largely on the quality of service rendered. The business man secures custom when he establishes a reputation for fair dealing. May not the library expect good measure of publicity from the reputation it has for real accomplishment? Study the problem, do things that are worth while. Bring the whole power of the organization to bear on the subject of social adjustment. This will lead to various fields of activity. Produce results which shall compel attention. Do things that will be considered news. Having done, having produced, do not hesitate to make known. Give your reports what the newspaper man calls the "news turn."

Every librarian should have training in psychology and sociology and should continue to study. Study man individually, in groups, in communities and mankind as a whole.

The PRESIDENT: The next in order will be the secretary's report.

SECRETARY'S REPORT

The close of another conference year finds the executive office still enjoying the hospitality of the Chicago public library in the commodious, convenient and well equipped rooms in the Chicago public library building. Heat, light and janitor service have also been supplied gratuitously as in previous years. The association has now held headquarters offices in Chicago for nearly three years and it is a pleasure for the secretary to report that the prospects for continuance and permanence of headquarters were never brighter than they are now. The income from membership fees is steadily increasing. In 1909 the amount raised from this source was $4,557.50; in 1910, $4,888.48; in 1911, $5,325.46; and the receipts thus far for 1912 warrant us in hoping that the total amount from membership fees will be at least $6,200. While the finances of the association even yet do not permit us to do many things that are very much worth doing and which are in the legitimate field of activities, we seem gradually to be approaching the time when excursions can be made into new avenues.

Although the work of the headquarters office varies from day to day so that no two days are alike the year's work in the aggregate so closely resemble that for last year that much repetition of last year's report would be made if a detailed statement were presented. The routine work has of course been performed, such as editing the bulletin, attending to the correspondence, advertising for the publishing board and sale of its publications which in the last year has been the heaviest in its history, the payment of bills, the keeping of books, the printing of publications for the publishing board, with the attendant work of making contracts for printing and the reading of proof, the arrangements for the midwinter meetings and the annual conference. The volume of this routine work has been very great and is still increasing so that often for days at a time there is little chance for doing anything else.

Since November 1, 1911, a record has been kept of mail sent out from the office. From November 1, to May 31, 1912, 11,818 pieces of first-class mail have been dispatched, or an average of about 67 pieces a day. In addition to this 15,794 pieces of circular matter were mailed either in the interest of the A. L. A. or its publishing board during the same period. No record of mail received has been kept but it runs from 50 to 70 letters a day, and frequently reaches 150 a day at certain seasons and on certain days of the week. Of course not all of this requires the personal attention of the secretary, a large share being orders for publications, or remittances for the same, payment of membership dues, and various inquiries, which are entirely handled by the office assistants. The headquarters office, however, continues to be, we are pleased to say, a clearing house for general library information. The Chicago public and John Crerar libraries are frequently consulted by the secretary, and occasionally the Newberry and other libraries, and I desire to express at this time my hearty appreciation of the cordial assistance given me by the reference librarians of these various institutions. Thanks to their kind offices we have been able in most instances either to give the desired information or tell where it may be found. To those seeking advice regarding establishment of libraries, selection or purchase of books or policy of administration we have gladly helped so far as we were able but always make it a point to try to put the inquirer in touch with the library commission of his state or the state library. We have taken particular pleasure in corresponding with certain towns in New Mexico, Florida, Mississippi and Montana where a public library is either being organized or where a campaign to secure one is being conducted. Notwithstanding the systematic efforts of the various commissions to cover thoroughly the library work of their respective states many small libraries and library boards seem blissfully ignorant of the existence of such an institution as a state library commission, and we consider it no small service to be able to enlighten them on this point. The commissions, on the other hand, are constantly putting the small libraries in touch with the A. L. A. The state library commissions can always be counted on to co-operate with the A. L. A. to publish our news notes and notices regarding publications in their bulletins, to recommend membership and A. L. A. publications and to respond quickly and efficiently to any special call. This is thoroughly appreciated by the secretary and the executive office. During the past year the secretary has made several demands on the time of the secretaries of the various state library associations and has found response in most cases prompt, intelligent and willing.

The library interests of the country are making progress towards a harmony of effort that is good to see and that will bring its sure result in better and more intelligent service to the people.

We have endeavored to keep the value and importance of publicity steadily before us and have accomplished as much in this direction as time and funds permitted. Multigraphed articles have been sent out to about 175 of the leading papers of the country several times during the year and from marked copies sent to the office and from reports from librarians who have seen the articles in their local papers we know that these contributions have been pretty generally used. Several special articles on either the work of the A. L. A. or the Publishing Board have been written for particular papers. A publicity committee has, at the request of the secretary, recently been appointed in the hope of securing still greater publicity. The work of the executive office, however, does not lend itself to the making of "stories" interesting to those outside the profession. Nearly every live and up-to-date library, on the other hand, is every week living out experiences which, if written up in a breezy and popular style of which many of our library folk are masters, would make capital articles acceptable not only to the daily press but to the more exclusive magazines as well. It appears, therefore, that the executive office can perhaps best promote publicity for the profession, by urging the preparation of these contributions from the reference librarians, the children's librarians, the loan desk people, the municipal reference workers, these people who, as Kipling puts it, have

"lived more stories
Than Zogbaum or I can invent."

The secretary has written four or five articles on the A. L. A. for various encyclopedias and year books, and has endeavored to get the association listed in all the leading reference almanacs and annuals. Lectures before library schools by the secretary regarding the A. L. A. and its work, and official representation at the state meetings have also given publicity to the association.

During the past year twelve persons have received library appointments through recommendations of the secretary. This is a somewhat smaller number than the year before when about fifteen were helped to positions through the executive office. With two or three exceptions the secretary has made recommendations only when requested to do so.

The work of the publishing board occupies practically three-quarters of the time of the assistant secretary, at least half of the time of the stenographer and order assistant and probably a quarter of the time of the secretary. In consideration of this the publishing board appropriates $2,000 a year to the operating expenses of the office. The work of the publishing board is heavier than ever before in its history; the receipts from sales for the calendar year 1911 being $8,502.88, and for the first five months of 1912 $6,090.16. Further notice of this feature of the work of the office can be found in the report of the A. L. A. publishing board presented in print at this conference.

The secretary wishes here to commend most heartily the faithful services of his fellow-workers at the executive office, Miss Clara A. Simms and Miss Gwendolyn I. Brigham. Their capable and willing service has been a large factor in the work of the association and its publishing board and without such intelligence and loyal help the results of the year could not have been attained. For the active co-operation and good will of the officers and other members of the executive board the secretary is deeply grateful. It has been a pleasure to work under such congenial conditions.

Membership—There are more members in the A. L. A. at the present time than ever before in the history of the association. The secretary has conducted as vigorously as possible a steady campaign for new members, this work not only being the duty of the office but directly in line with the conviction of the secretary who has recommended membership in the national association to all library workers in the earnest belief that this action is fully as beneficial to the individual as to the association.

When the January membership bills were mailed we enclosed in each envelope an appeal for the member addressed to secure at least one new member for the association. This resulted directly in the addition of over one hundred new members and the secretary wishes to take this opportunity to thank most sincerely and heartily those members who aided in this work. Besides the pleasure of securing these new members it was gratifying to feel that so many old members took such practical interest in aiding the association. In April membership appeals were sent to 1854 members of state library associations who were not members of the A. L. A. This has resulted in a fair increase of membership. In December the secretary sent letters requesting membership to 232 library people who had, according to the news columns of library periodicals, recently changed their positions assumably for the better. In addition to these more or less impersonal appeals the secretary has written a large number of personal letters to those with whom he is either personally acquainted or else with whom he has conducted an office correspondence. As in all other lines of business it is this personal appeal that has been the most effective and has brought the largest percentage of returns.

When the 1911 Handbook went to press last August there were 2046 members in the A. L. A. Of this number 13 have since died and 26 have resigned. Since last August 351 new members have been received making the present total net membership 2,358. Assuming that the usual number, or about 150 persons, will discontinue their membership this summer the net membership in the 1912 Handbook will be approximately 2,208. Of the present total membership 332 are library or institutional members, 24 of whom have joined since last August.

A. L. A. Representatives at Other Conferences—The practice of having an officer or officially appointed delegate represent the association at the state library association meetings has been followed the past year with success fully equal to that in previous years. Since the Pasadena conference there have been 39 state or provincial library meetings, and a speaker representing the A. L. A. has been present at 16 of these. The A. L. A. at present has too small a budget to meet the traveling expenses of these speakers, which have been met either by the state association or by the delegates personally.

The joint conference of Michigan and Ohio at Cedar Point, Ohio, Sept. 2-8, was attended by Mrs. H. L. Elmendorf, president of the American library association, who delivered an address on "Joy Reading," and by the secretary, who spoke informally on the work of the A. L. A. The New York state meeting in New York City, Sept. 25-30, was also attended by both the president and secretary, Mrs. Elmendorf giving her address on "Joy Reading," and the secretary speaking on "What the American Library Association Stands For."

Mrs. Elmendorf was the official delegate to the Keystone State library association meeting at Saegertown, Pa., Oct. 19-21, giving an address on "Joy Reading;" at the District of Columbia library association conference, at Washington, November 8, where she gave a talk on some of the recent books; and at the New York state teachers' association meeting at Albany, Nov. 27-29, speaking on the subject, "School and library co-operation; a concrete example and a little theory."

Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., represented the A. L. A. at the state meetings of Iowa, at Mason City, Oct. 10-12; of Illinois, at Joliet, Oct 11-13; and of Missouri at Hannibal, Oct. 18-19; delivering at each meeting an address on the subject, "What Americans Read."

Mr. Chalmers Hadley, librarian of the Denver public library, and ex-secretary of the A. L. A., was the representative of the American library association at the meeting of the Pacific northwest library association, at Victoria, B. C., Sept. 4-6, giving an address on "The Library and the Community."

The secretary attended the Minnesota meeting, at Lake Minnetonka, Sept. 20-22, the Nebraska meeting at Omaha, Oct. 18-19, and the North Dakota state meeting at Jamestown, Oct. 20-21, giving at each conference an address on "Reaching the People." He also gave an address at the joint session of the Indiana library association and the Indiana library trustees' association, at Indianapolis, Nov. 8th, on "The Legal and Moral Requirements of a Library Trustee."

Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick, librarian of the St. Louis public library, and ex-president of the A. L. A., was the principal out-of-state speaker at the Alabama library association conference, at Tuscaloosa, and at the State University, November 21, 22 and 23. Dr. Bostwick gave two addresses; the first on "The Companionship of Books;" and the second on "The Message of the Library."

Miss Clara F. Baldwin, secretary of the Minnesota public library commission, attended, as A. L. A. delegate, the joint meeting of the Montana state teachers' association and Montana library association, at Great Falls, December 27-29, 1911, and spoke on "The work of a library commission."

Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites, secretary of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, and an ex-president of the A. L. A., officially represented the association at the inauguration of Dr. George E. Vincent, as president of the University of Minnesota, October 18.

Mr. Carl B. Roden, of the Chicago public library, and treasurer of the A. L. A., represented the association and gave an address on "The library as a paying investment," at the Wisconsin library association meeting at Janesville, February 21-23.

The secretary has lectured during the year before the Iowa summer library school, the New York public library school, and the University of Illinois library school. He also addressed the summer library conference at Madison, Wisconsin, on the work of the A. L. A.

Changes in Officers and Committees—Following his election as first vice-president, Mr. Henry E. Legler resigned as non-official member of the executive board and Miss Alice S. Tyler was elected by the board to fill the unexpired term ending in 1912.

Mr. Harrison W. Craver was unable to accept re-appointment as chairman of committee on library administration and Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick was appointed in his place.

Miss Margaret W. Brown resigned from the committee on bookbinding and Miss Rose G. Murray was appointed to succeed her.

Necrology—The association has lost heavily by death during the past year. Our losses include the senior ex-president of the association, who was a life member, two other life members, and several who were, by their regular attendance through many years, familiar figures at our annual conferences. In all 13 members and 4 former members have passed away since we last met in conference. The roll is as follows:

Emma Helen Blair, for several years a member of the staff of the Wisconsin State Historical Library, died September 26, 1911. Miss Blair had performed valuable and important work as an editor and professional indexer, assisting among other things in editing "Jesuit Relations" and the long series of historical documents in Spanish entitled "The Philippine Islands." She had been a member of the A. L. A. continuously since 1896 (No. 1524), and attended the conferences of 1896, 1900 and 1904. See Library journal, 36:603.

Isaac S. Bradley, for many years librarian and assistant superintendent of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, died April 22, 1912. He joined the A. L. A. in 1890, (No. 790) and had taken great interest in the work of the association. Few faces were more familiar at the conferences than his, as he attended sixteen of the annual meetings, those of 1890, '92, '93, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 1900, '01, '02, '03, '04, '06, '07 and '08.

Frederick Morgan Crunden, senior ex-president of the A. L. A., life member, and librarian of the St. Louis public library, from 1877 to 1909, died October 28, 1911. He was president of the A. L. A. 1889-90, presiding over the Fabyans conference of the latter year, and vice-president of the International Library Conference at London in 1897. He joined the A. L. A. in 1878 (No. 129) and became a life member about 1889. To record Mr. Crunden's services to the American library world and to the A. L. A. would be practically to give a history of the association for the past 30 years. He participated in many programs and conference discussions and was one of the best known and beloved of American librarians. Mr. Crunden attended the conferences of 1883 and 1886 to 1905 inclusive, twenty in all, without an absence, except at the San Francisco conference of 1891. He also attended the London international conference in 1897. See A. L. A. Bulletin 6:3; Library journal, 33:569-70; Public libraries, 16:436-38.

Irene Gibson, chief assistant in the publication section of the Library of Congress, died July 9, 1911. She joined the association in 1893 (No. 1114), and became a life member in 1910. She attended the conferences of 1893, '97, 1903, '08, '10. See Library journal, 36:439.

Jessie Sherburne Gile, assistant in charge of the work with schools in the public library of Haverhill, Mass., died October 22, 1911. She joined the A. L. A. in 1902, (No. 2555), and attended the conferences of 1902 and '06.

David L. Kingsbury, assistant librarian of the Minnesota Historical Society of St. Paul, died January 24, 1912. He joined the A. L. A. in 1904 (No. 3079), and attended the conferences of 1904, '08 and '11.

Mrs. Evelyn N. Lane, head of the circulating department of the Springfield (Mass.) City Library, died August 30, 1911. She had been a member of the A. L. A. since 1902 (No. 2454), but so far as recorded attended only the conference of that year.

Robbins Little, for twenty years superintendent of the Astor Library, New York City, died April 13, 1912. He joined the A. L. A. in 1880 (No. 389), and later became a life member. So far as recorded he attended none of the conferences.

Stella Lucas, librarian of the Tainter Memorial Library of Menominee, Wis., died July 30, 1911. She joined the A. L. A. in 1901 (No. 2252), and attended the conferences in 1901, '05 and '08.

Adolph L. Peck, librarian of the Gloversville (N. Y.) Free Library since its foundation in 1880, died October 9, 1911. He joined the A. L. A. in 1883 (No. 466), and was a familiar figure at the annual conferences, having attended those of 1883, '85, '86, '87, '90, '92, '93, '94, '96, '98, 1900 and 1906.

Mrs. Minerva A. Sanders, for many years librarian of the Deborah Cook Sayles Memorial Library, Pawtucket, R. I., died March 20, 1912. Although Mrs. Sanders was an enthusiastic attendant on A. L. A. conferences she never personally joined the association, but was officially entitled to a seat in the conferences by virtue of the institutional membership of her library. She had attended fifteen conferences and was well known to the veterans of the association, who well remember her early advocacy of open shelves and work for children.

L. W. Sicotte, president of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, of Montreal, died September 5, 1911. He joined the A. L. A. in 1900 (No. 1947). So far as recorded he attended only the conference of 1900 held in his home city.

T. Guilford Smith, of Buffalo, regent of the University of the State of New York, died Feb. 20, 1912. He had been a member of the A. L. A. continuously since 1893 (No. 1193), and attended the conferences of 1897 and 1903.

The following persons at various times were members of the association but were not at the time of their death:

Zu Adams, for many years connected with the Kansas State Historical Society, died April, 1911. She was a member of the A. L. A. for the year 1904 (No. 3203), and attended the St Louis conference.

Caroline A. Farley, formerly librarian of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass., died March 14, 1912. She joined the association in 1896 (No. 1394), and was a member continuously until 1909. So far as recorded she attended none of the conferences.

Stephen B. Griswold, for many years law librarian of the New York state library, died May 4, 1912. He joined the A. L. A. in 1892 (No. 943), and remained a member until 1904. So far as recorded he attended no conferences.

William E. Parker, treasurer of Library Bureau, Cambridge, Mass., died November 2, 1911. He was a member of the A. L. A. continuously from 1889 (No. 757), to 1909, and was secretary of the association in 1890. He attended the conferences of 1889, '90 and '96.

The secretary's report was accepted on motion of Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., seconded by Dr. C. W. Andrews.

The treasurer's report which had been previously printed, was read by title, and accepted.

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Report of the Treasurer, Jan. 1st to May 31st, 1912.

Respectfully submitted,

C. B. RODEN, Treasurer.

Chicago, June 1, 1912.

The following report of the finance committee was read by Dr. C. W. Andrews, chairman, and accepted.

REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE.

To the American Library Association:

In accordance with the provisions of the constitution the finance committee submit the following report:

They have duly considered the probable income of the association for the current year and have estimated it at $19,450, and have approved appropriations made by the Executive Board to that amount. The details of the estimated income and of the appropriations are given in the January number of the Bulletin. The committee have also approved the appropriation to the use of the Publishing Board to any excess of sales over the amount estimated. The receipts and expenditures of the Publishing Board have been included in the figures given, so that they now exhibit the total financial resources and expenditures of the association.

On behalf of the committee the chairman has audited the accounts of the treasurer and of the secretary as assistant treasurer. He has found that the receipts as stated by the treasurer agree with the transfer checks from the assistant treasurer, and with the cash accounts of the latter. The expenditures as stated are accounted for by properly approved vouchers. The bank balance and petty cash, as stated, agree with the bank books and petty cash balances. The accounts of the assistant treasurer have been found correct as cash accounts.

On behalf of the committee Mr. E. H. Anderson has examined the accounts of the trustees for 1911, has checked the securities now in their custody, and certifies to the correctness of the figures, to the bonds on hand, and the balance in bank. He finds that at par value the bonds and securities amount to $102,500 for the Carnegie fund, and $7,000 for the Principal account.

He has examined the vouchers for the amounts transmitted to the treasurer and has compared the reports of the treasurer and trustees in regard to the number of new life memberships. He certifies that to the best of his knowledge and belief all of the accounts as submitted to him are correct.

All of which is respectfully submitted for the committee.

CLEMENT W. ANDREWS, Chairman.

The following reports which had been previously printed, were read by title and accepted.

[A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD]

With the issuance of the A. L. A. Catalog, 1904-11, which is now in press, the Publishing Board practically completes an important group of bibliographical aids which has been in process of compilation or publication during the past five years. The chief publications embrace the following:

A. L. A. Catalog, 1904-11, to be issued in 1912.

List of subject headings for use in dictionary catalogs, 3rd edition revised by Mary Josephine Briggs. 1911.

Small library buildings; a collection of plans with introduction and notes by Cornelia Marvin. 1908.

Guide to the study and use of reference books, by Alice B. Kroeger. 1908.

Supplement to the above, compiled by Isadore G. Mudge. 1911.

Foreign book lists, embracing to date German, French, Hungarian, Norwegian and Danish, and Swedish.

550 Children's books; a purchase list for public libraries, by Harriet H. Stanley. 1910.

Selected list of music and books about music for public libraries, by Louisa M. Hooper. 1909.

Hints to small libraries, by Mary W. Plummer, 4th edition. 1911.

This list does not include a number of new tracts and handbooks, nor the tentative chapters of an A. L. A. Manual of library economy which it is proposed upon completion to assemble in book form. An index to annual library reports, which is well under way, will probably be put into type before the expiration of the calendar year. In addition, during the quintennial period now closing, the Board has been instrumental in securing the publication of the following important bibliographical aids bearing the imprints of other organizations: Index of economic material in documents of the states of the United States, prepared by Adelaide R. Hasse; A. L. A. Portrait index, edited by W. C. Lane and Nina E. Browne.

New chapters of the Manual of library economy are noted in another paragraph.

Directions for the librarian of a small library (3000 copies), by Zaidee Brown was reprinted for the League of library commissions from the type used by the Free public library commission of Massachusetts.

The library and social movements; a list of material obtainable free or at small expense (1250 copies), compiled by Ono Mary Imhoff, of the Wisconsin free library commission, was reprinted for the League from the type used for the edition of the Wisconsin free library commission.

Subject index to vol. 7 of the A. L. A. Booklist (2500 copies) was printed in June, 1911. Although proportionately valuable to vols. 1-6 the sale has been very unsatisfactory and is not an encouragement to prepare future yearly indexes.

During the past year the following publications have been reprinted: A. L. A. Index to general literature, edited by W. I. Fletcher, 1905 edition (500 copies); Cataloging for small libraries, by Theresa Hitchler (Handbook No. 2) (1000 copies); Binding for small libraries, compiled by the A. L. A. Committee on Bookbinding (Handbook No. 5) (1500 copies); Guide to reference books, by Alice B. Kroeger (1000 copies); and Cutter's Notes from the art section of a library (Tract No. 5) (1000 copies). A new edition of Miss Stearns' Essential in library administration (2000 copies) is now in press. It has been brought up to date by the author.

Publications out of Print—Several publications for which plates were not made have recently become out of print. Magazines for the small library, by Katharine MacDonald Jones, and Graded list of stories for reading aloud, by Harriot E. Hassler were both League publications which had been turned over to the Board. There is a steady demand for them and they should be either brought up to date and reprinted or something else issued on the same subject.

Questions of Policy—The work now nearing an end has engaged the attention and absorbed the resources of the Publishing Board to an extent that precluded entry into new fields calling for large expenditures. The editorial work involved in the compilation of the third edition of Subject headings, extending over a period of several years, and the editorial expenses incident to the publication of the A. L. A. Booklist have practically exhausted the current funds available for such service. Beginning with the new fiscal year, the funds derived from sales will doubtless care for all outstanding obligations, and the income from the Carnegie endowment can be devoted to maintain and to further strengthen the Booklist, and to undertake new enterprises.

Out of the great labor involved, and time required in the preparation of Subject headings, and of the A. L. A. Catalog, has developed the suggestion that work for new editions of the former compilation should be continuous, and that the Booklist bears a logical relationship to the A. L. A. Catalog. While the members of the Publishing Board are not fully prepared at this time to urge a definite permanent policy in this connection, an interesting suggestion comes from Mrs. Elmendorf, which well merits consideration in having an important bearing on future development. Her suggestion, in her own words, is this:

"Would it not be well to consider the publication of the A. L. A. Catalog in loose-leaf form on something the same principle as Nelson's Cyclopedia? Different parts of it might then be revised from time to time and the parts or pages might be for sale separately.

"It could be so printed that the pages might be mounted and arranged in a vertical file, headings being suggested at the bottom for arrangement as any library preferred, in regular classed order or in alphabetico-classed. A card index to the vertical file might be made to minimize the difficulties of the classed arrangement. The notes should be attractive notes, letting the presence of the book in this "Choice Catalog" vouch for its worth and in a general way for the treatment, for the choice should be guided by the best popular, readable treatment. I am more and more thinking that effective helps to awakened personal interest are needed and are lacking. The A. L. A. Catalog has always been too bulky, too costly, too much directed to the buyer for effective personal service. I have long been convinced that the greatest popular service can be performed even in the large libraries with quite a limited number of books, I think not more than 20,000, perhaps not more than 10,000. I should like to advertise that many adequately and attractively and watch the results.

"I know that there are many objections and difficulties to be met, and yet I believe that there is the germ of a workable scheme present."

List of Subject Headings—The chief publication of the year has been the new List of subject headings, revised and edited by Mary Josephine Briggs, cataloger of the Buffalo public library. After nearly five years of labor this third edition appeared October 1st, 1911 and has met with a most appreciative reception. 3000 copies were printed as a first edition. 1312 copies have already been sold (to June 1), and a steady demand continues. The reviews have been almost uniformly favorable.

A. L. A. Catalog, 1904-11—The new A. L. A. Catalog, 1904-11, although not yet off the press as this report is written, will be distributed we hope about the date of the Ottawa meeting. It contains a selection of about 3000 of the best books published since the A. L. A. Catalog of 1904, with a list of books now out of print which appeared in that Catalog, and also of new editions. Children's books are listed separately. Five thousand copies are being printed as a first edition, of which nearly 3000 have been subscribed for in advance of publication. From the preface written by the editor, Miss Elva L. Bascom, the following extracts are selected:

"The general plan of the Catalog and the routine of co-operation in the selection of titles practically coincide with those of the original work except that the whole routine, from the preliminary selection to the final preparation for printing, has remained in the hands of one person.

"All titles have been submitted to the publishers for latest information, so that the list should be dependable for prices.

"The sixth edition (1899) of the Decimal Classification has been followed. This decision was made on the information that the smaller libraries had not to any extent adopted the seventh edition. It is to be hoped that when the time comes to revise the 1904 Catalog there may be at hand a complete revised edition of the "D. C." simplified for the requirements of the smaller libraries.

"The addition of subject headings (not given with the titles in the 1904 Catalog) was determined on before the decision to print only a class list was made. It has been a frequent request from the librarians of smaller libraries, who need help in this matter and who found it difficult to find the headings chosen for the Dictionary list in the 1904 Catalog. The new edition of the List of subject headings has been followed with some additions. Where the subjects of analytics are easily ascertainable, they are only recommended.

"While in the beginning the attempt was made to adhere fairly closely to the proportion of titles to each subject given in the 1904 Catalog, it was found impossible to do so without impairing the usefulness of the list. The output of books in the subjects grouped under Sociology has been so great, and the demand for them so heavy, that it seemed better to include a larger number than was originally planned rather than risk weakening the usefulness of the section. The greatest increase has been in Useful Arts, and this was intentional, since there is no division where the average librarian is more in need of help, nor where it is more difficult to find the "best book" on short notice.

"Two special lists are incorporated in the Catalog, both in answer to definite requests. One is a selection of about 50 titles of religious books specially chosen for Catholic readers. Two preliminary selections were made, one by an assistant in the St. Louis public library at the request of the librarian, Dr. A. E. Bostwick, and a second by the Rev. W. J. McMullen of Pittsburgh, at the request of the librarian of the Carnegie library of Pittsburgh, Mr. H. W. Craver. Both lists were then incorporated into a much more extensive one, covering all subjects, compiled by Mr. William Stetson Merrill, of the Newberry library. The final selection, limited to religious books, was submitted to Archbishop Ireland, and at his request was examined by the Rev. J. A. Ryan, of the St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minn."

The second list consists of 50 titles of modern drama and books about it. It was impossible to get any unanimity of opinion on such a brief selection and the editor is aware that it will satisfy a very small proportion of libraries. It is allowed to stand, however, for the suggestion it may give to the perplexed librarian of the smaller library.

"It is hardly to be imagined that any one ever prepared a list of this character and extent without wishing to ask the indulgence of possible critics and to explain why it is so much farther from perfect than it was expected to be. It seems a fairly simple task to select 3000 titles from the books published in eight years, but a list based on the co-operation of about 75 librarians and 100 experts, all fully engaged with their own work, and selected, edited and prepared for printing in the intervals between work having a prior claim, is bound to progress but slowly and to suffer many changes of fortune. One needs to be this sort of clearing house of opinion but once to realize how far apart our libraries are in the matter of book selection. In many cases what is one library's meat seems to be another's poison, and one soon reaches the conviction that there are no "best books" on any subject for a library of any size—if librarians alone are to be consulted. Happily, professors, special students and experts in general are less at variance. It is only fair to say that the Fiction and Children's lists represent librarians' votes only. It is to be doubted if the Fiction, at least, would have retained the proper amount of "light reading" if it had passed through the hands of literature professors. If it does not prove a good "working" selection the editor will be greatly disappointed, for it was on that ground alone that many titles escaped the deleting pencil."

A. L. A. Booklist—With the current number of the A. L. A. Booklist, volume 8 is completed. Since the initial number appeared in January, 1905, the Booklist has come to be regarded as an indispensable tool in every library. There has been no deviation from the original policy of furnishing to the libraries, and the numerous small libraries particularly, an unbiased guide in selection of books currently published. The number of titles listed from the 2500 annually examined, has been expanded from time to time, but the general character of the publication has been retained. Suggestions have come to the Board for change of name, for change of form and size, and for other changes that might lead to a larger use of the list by the general public. While the members of the Board have given careful consideration to the arguments presented, they have deferred reaching a final conclusion until practical unanimity can be arrived at as to the wisdom of the changes sought. A total of 7729 titles has been included in the 2456 pages which comprise the eight volumes of the Booklist:

A. L. A. BOOKLIST

Manual of Library Economy—Six chapters of the Manual were printed and ready for distribution previous to the Pasadena conference, namely:

1. American library history, by C. K. Bolton.

2. Library of Congress, by W. W. Bishop.

4. The college and university library, by J. I. Wyer, Jr.

17. Order and accession department, by F. F. Hopper.

22. Reference department, by E. C. Richardson.

26. Bookbinding, by A. L. Bailey.

During the latter half of 1911 the four following chapters were printed, also each in a separate pamphlet, appearing in the order here named:

20. Shelf department, by Josephine A. Rathbone.

15. Branch libraries and other distributing agencies, by Linda A. Eastman.

9. Library legislation, by W. F. Yust.

12. Library administration, by A. E. Bostwick.

Since their publication the following number of copies of each chapter have been sold (to March 31):

Manuscripts for two more chapters, The library building, by W. R. Eastman, and Proprietary and subscription libraries, by C. K. Bolton, are ready and in the secretary's possession, but funds for printing are not in hand at present, owing to the heavy obligation incurred by the printing of Subject headings and the A. L. A. Catalog, 1904-11, within so short a time of each other. It is hoped, however, to print these and perhaps some others before the end of the year.

Periodical Cards—The shipments of periodical cards sent out since the close of the last report of the Board (May 1, 1911) have comprised 3,009 titles and 180,241 cards, not including reprints of cards in which errors have been discovered after the cards have been distributed.

Copy is received regularly by the editor, Mr. William Stetson Merrill, every two weeks, on the fifth and twentieth of the month from the following libraries:—Columbia, Harvard, John Crerar, New York and Yale. This copy is edited promptly and prepared for the printer.

Advertising—The Board's publications have been regularly advertised in Library Journal and Public Libraries and in one special number of The Dial. For the rest circularization and correspondence from the headquarters office has been relied upon. During the year over 15,000 pieces of circular matter have been mailed from headquarters office in the interest of our publications.

Particular effort has been made to advertise widely the new List of subject headings and the A. L. A. Catalog. For the latter in addition to circularizing the libraries descriptive postal cards were addressed to 7,000 high school and normal school principals. From these circulars only about 100 orders for the Catalog can be directly traced. It seems plain that it does not pay to advertise our publications among the high schools. Slips advertising the Catalog were sent to the librarians of all the leading colleges, requesting that these slips be distributed to members of the faculty interested in book selection. This resulted in getting orders from many college libraries addressed, but very few from the teaching staff. Experience would indicate that libraries and librarians are the only classes to which advertising can profitably be addressed. We have endeavored to keep the state library commissions regularly informed on all our publications and all of them which issue monthly or quarterly bulletins list our new publications therein, generally with appreciative annotations and descriptions. Exhibits of publications have been made at several state library meetings visited by the secretary.

During the past year the principal libraries of England, Scotland and Ireland have been circularized with lists of our publications, and a very gratifying number of orders have been received as a result. When the revised edition of Subject headings appeared copies were sent to nearly all the library periodicals of the various countries of Europe with the result that they reviewed the book and quite a number of continental orders have been directly traceable to these reviews. Copies of Subject headings and the new A. L. A. Catalog have been ordered from almost every important country in the world.

This report would be incomplete without hearty acknowledgment of the excellent work of the Secretary, Mr. George B. Utley. To his good business judgment and careful and judicious management is due in great measure the splendid financial showing recorded in the accompanying fiscal statement. The affairs of the Board have never been in better shape than now. The sales are increasing encouragingly, the inventory shows a salable stock with less "dead" material than at any time for years back, and the office organization is now well systematized and effective.

HENRY E. LEGLER, Chairman.

FINANCIAL REPORT

SALES OF A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD PUBLICATIONS

[REPORT OF THE CARNEGIE AND ENDOWMENT FUNDS]

To the President and Members of the American Library Association:

The Trustees of the Endowment Funds in presenting their annual report for the year ending January 15, 1912, desire to say that there has been no change in the securities held by the Board. The market price of most of them remaining about the same, changes could not be made to the advantage and desired betterment of the fund.

The Trustees are pleased to state that all interest has been promptly paid.

Mr. E. H. Anderson of the New York public library was again deputed to audit the accounts of the Board and inspect the securities, and he gives to the Trustees, as the result of that examination, the following letter:

Dear Mr. Appleton:

Enclosed herewith are the vouchers from Mr. Roden, Treasurer of the American Library Association, and the receipt for the rent of the safety deposit box in the vaults of the Union Trust Company. I have written the chairman of the Finance Committee that I have examined these vouchers and found them in accordance with your type written statement.

The four type written sheets which you gave me yesterday I have checked as correct as to the bonds in your custody, as to the vouchers referred to above, and as to the cash balance on hand. I have certified to Mr. Andrews, the chairman of the Committee on Finance, that to the best of my knowledge and belief the reports contained on these sheets are correct.

Very sincerely,

(Signed) E. H. ANDERSON.

The General Endowment Fund has been increased during the year by the taking of seven life memberships by the persons named, adding to the Fund, $175.00.

Respectfully submitted,

W. C. KIMBALL,
WM. W. APPLETON,
W. T. PORTER.

Trustees of A. L. A. Endowment Fund.

CARNEGIE FUND, PRINCIPAL ACCOUNT

In addition to the above we have on hand at the Union Trust Company $150 profit on the sale of the Missouri Pacific Bonds, which we have carried to a special surplus account.

CARNEGIE FUND, INCOME ACCOUNT

ENDOWMENT FUND, PRINCIPAL ACCOUNT

ENDOWMENT FUND, INCOME ACCOUNT

COMMITTEE ON BOOKBINDING

During the year the special library edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, mentioned in last year's report, and at various times in the library periodicals, was placed on the market under considerable difficulty. As planned at first, three special library editions were all to be bound in England and imported for libraries by the publishers. Unfortunately, it was discovered after orders had been taken that the publishers could not, under the copyright law, import any copies, and notices to that effect were sent to libraries that had ordered these editions. The publishers then found that the cloth bound set, according to the A. L. A. specifications, could be manufactured in this country and again librarians received communications from the publishers. Owing to these various communications from the publishers, together with notices from this committee, many librarians remained without knowledge as to the real state of affairs.

At the present time the committee understands that the cloth bound set, with special reinforcements, can be obtained directly from the publishers in this country, and that sets bound by Mr. Chivers can be obtained directly from him. Several complaints of the new bindings have come to the committee, but upon investigation, it was found in every case that the complaints were due to imperfect or torn pages and not to defective binding. Undoubtedly many imperfect sheets were passed in the first copies that were sold. We have reason to believe, however, that later sets have been more carefully collated. Complaints about the cloth binding have also been received from large libraries. As a matter of fact this edition was not intended for large libraries. From the beginning it has been stated that the cloth edition was for the use of small libraries. Large libraries were expected to get one of the leather editions.

It is quite evident that publishers are beginning to realize that good binding, especially of reference books, is an asset of considerable value when dealing with libraries. During the year the committee has several times been called upon for specifications and suggestions for the binding of large reference books. Perhaps the most noteworthy instance was that of the Century Company, which submitted samples of binding for the new edition of the Century Dictionary. The Century Company and the J. F. Tapley Company, of New York, which did the binding, adopted various methods of strengthening the volumes, and the samples submitted included not only all of the committee's specifications, but several others. The samples were so good and the honesty of purpose of the Century Company and the J. F. Tapley Company so evident that the committee felt no hesitation in stating that the result was the best piece of commercial (machine bound) binding ever brought to its attention. Visits of two members of the committee to the bindery showed that the specifications in every case were being lived up to. The committee, furthermore, obtained full description and specifications of this binding, which, with certain modifications, can be used as a standard for this kind of work.

Specifications for strong binding were also submitted to H. W. Wilson Company for the binding of the new volume of U. S. Catalog; to Robert Glasgow, of Toronto, for a set entitled "Makers of Canada"; and to the Review of Reviews Company for the "Photographic history of the Civil war." The specifications, as submitted, were adopted by the Robert Glasgow Co., and the Review of Reviews Co. The H. W. Wilson Co. adopted them with some slight modifications which met with the approval of the committee.

So far as the reinforcing of fiction and juvenile books by publishers is concerned, matters stand about the same as they have been for the past two years. The plan has practically been dropped by all publishers. In a few cases, books which the publishers have discovered are in constant demand by libraries, are kept in stock in special binding. Examples of these are the Little Cousin Series, published by Page, and the Peter Rabbit Series, by Warne. The number of titles of such books is very few.

It must not be supposed, however, that because the publishers have stopped doing this, such books are unobtainable. On the contrary, it is easier to get reinforced publishers' covers than ever before, and with the surety that the work is well done, which was not always the case when they were bound by the publishers. Those who wish to use the attractive publishers' covers, and at the same time have a book which will outlast the period of extreme popularity, can do so by ordering from one of the several firms which do work of this kind. In most cases the increased cost is greater than was the case when the books were done by the publishers, but the work is far better done and in the opinion of the committee the increased value more than compensates for the increased cost. Furthermore, the books are not injured for rebinding. In fact, in some cases the sewing of the book is designed to last during its lifetime. When the first cover wears out, all that is necessary is to re-case it.

While discussing the question of reinforced bindings it may not be amiss again to call attention to the special binding of the Everyman's Library. Experience in the use of these volumes only emphasizes their serviceability, attractiveness and cheapness. Whenever possible all replacements should be made from this collection.

During the year the publishers of two periodicals, Everybody's and World's Work, adopted a scheme of binding which necessitated cutting off the backs of signatures. It was apparent at once that this scheme made it necessary for libraries which bound these periodicals to have them overcast in sewing. Since few binders understand the proper method of oversewing and moreover generally charge extra for it, many libraries were put to much inconvenience and added expense. Protests from this committee to the publishers were promptly heeded, and as a result all libraries now receive the regular edition with folded sheets.

The correspondence of the committee has largely increased. Inquiries are frequently received from publishers, from binders and from librarians. Inquiries from librarians cover all phases of binding, and not infrequently the committee is asked for opinions as to the work of certain binders. In answering these questions about individual binding the committee has been at a disadvantage, because, except in the case of a very few binders, it has no definite knowledge of their work. To remedy this difficulty the committee has, with some hesitation, planned to establish a collection which shall include samples of the work of all binders which make a specialty of library binding. These samples are to be four in number and will show methods of binding fiction, juvenile books and periodicals. In addition to these samples binders are asked to answer 24 questions which cover methods, materials, and prices. It is hoped that, with these samples and answers to these questions, the committee will be in a position to form more definite opinions about the work of any binder, and librarians who ask for opinions will receive answers based on actual knowledge.

The scheme is yet in its infancy but already samples have been received from several binders, and letters from some of them express approval. The committee realizes that good binding may be done in several ways, and while members of the committee may have individual preferences, every effort will be made to give impartial opinions. Certainly no binder who does good work need fear unjust criticism. Librarians can help in this work by,

1. Sending names of library binders.

2. Urging binders to comply with the requests of the committee.

3. Asking for opinions when the collection is complete.

In view of the facts outlined above, it seems reasonable to suppose that one of the committee's most valuable functions is to act in an advisory capacity, not only to librarians, but to publishers and binders. For this reason all librarians are urged to submit their binding problems to the committee.

Magazine Binders

During the year a number of varieties of magazine binders have been examined. Several firms failed to respond to a request for a sample or did so too late. Others doubtless exist of which the committee has not heard. The result of study of this subject during the past three years, aided by the chapter dealing with it in Dana's "Book binding for libraries," Edition 2, is here set forth.

Of course no one binder is best for all libraries or for all requirements of one library. Each must decide for itself by noting the condition of its magazines when they are ready for the bindery whether any binder at all is needed. A library which has no money to spend on the more durable covers or dislikes them for any reason may use one of the methods described in the chapter in Dana referred to above. A method, used to some extent by the Brooklyn public library, consists, in brief, of putting on a brown paper cover and securing it by paste or brass staples to a bunch of advertising pages at front and back.

The best inexpensive binder is that known as the "Springfield." It can be made in any bindery, consisting simply of a cover with a stiff strip at the back in which are three eyelet holes, one at each end and one in the middle. The magazine is laced in with tape or shoe string. This method damages the magazine much less than others similar, some of which require drilling holes through from side to side. In principle the binder made by Cedric Chivers, Brooklyn, N. Y., is a more durable form of the Springfield and is heartily recommended.

Some libraries desire a binder from which a magazine cannot readily be stolen. This is a matter of local opinion. The best for this purpose appear to be the new "Bull dog" binder just put on the market by Gaylord Brothers, Syracuse, N. Y., and the "Buchan" binder mentioned by Mr. Dana. All such binders are heavy, clumsy, and slow in operation. For those magazines deceitfully put together without sewing or staples the "Bull dog" and the "Buchan" binder will both give satisfaction.

Among a multitude of other binders the best type is that whose mechanism consists of a stout rod firmly fastened though playing free at one end, and fastened at the other by a simple catch. Many built on this principle are too clumsy. A few are needlessly flimsy. Of those examined the best are the following:—

"Universal" made by J. J. Ralek, New York City.

"A. L. B." made by American Library Bindery, Philadelphia.

"Torsion" made by Barrett Bindery Co., Chicago.

For covering binders various materials have been used. For long service and good appearance we recommend pig skin back and keratol sides. Cow hide and buckram are cheaper and will not last as long. Canvas is ill suited for this purpose.

Respectfully submitted,

A. L. BAILEY, Chairman.
ROSE G. MURRAY,
N. L. GOODRICH,

Committee.

COMMITTEE ON BOOK BUYING

During the past year the A. L. A. Committee on Book buying has been negotiating with a Committee of the American Booksellers' Association with a view to bringing about a better understanding between the booksellers and the libraries.

Upon the request of the Committee of the Booksellers' Association, your committee made a statement of the situation, which was delivered to them in October, 1911. The booksellers' committee prepared a reply to this statement, which was delivered to your committee in April, 1912.

A meeting of the two committees was held on Thursday, May 6th, 1912, in Cleveland, but it was without any definite result. It was agreed that the two committees report progress to their respective associations and that they submit to their executive committee the statement and reply referred to, with a report upon the present situation and to ask to be allowed to continue the negotiations if the executive committee thought it wise to do so.

WALTER L. BROWN, Chairman,
C. B. RODEN,
C. H. BROWN.

COMMITTEE ON CO-ORDINATION

The following report is the result, in part, of a question referred to the Committee on Co-ordination by a meeting at the Pasadena conference.

The question was, Whether libraries are justified in making a moderate charge in connection with every volume lent, sufficient in the long run, to cover the administrative expense involved in looking up and sending the volume asked for: not as payment for the use of the book, but to relieve the lender of an undue burden of expense, unavoidably attendant upon the system of lending with some freedom to other libraries.

In the opinion of the committee this question could be most profitably discussed only in connection with the whole subject of inter-library loans. It is clear, both from past and present developments, and from the direction these developments are taking that inter-library loans are, as yet, merely in their infancy. It is clear, too, that such loans increase the efficiency of libraries which participate in them. Finally, it is evident that there is a marked tendency not simply to multiply library loans, but to enlarge the field within which it is considered appropriate to effect them—taking "field" both in a geographical sense, and as relating to different classes of borrowers. Accordingly, it is not surprising that additional machinery and new methods should be required, and that some at least, should already have been devised. Also, it is safe to predict that this growth in machinery and in methods will continue.

Therefore, the Committee on Co-ordination has thought that it might be helpful, at the present time, to attempt a discussion (which will partake of the character of a symposium) in regard to the purpose and scope of inter-library loans. It is hoped that, as a result of this and subsequent discussion, it may become practicable to formulate some general rules for the conduct of inter-library loans. If a code of such rules could be framed, even granting that the provisions would, of course, bind no library against its will, one more step would yet have been taken in the direction of systematizing and extending a process which has already produced excellent results, and bids fair in the near future, to modify library practice in important particulars.

While the purpose of inter-library loans is uniform in the main, it varies to some extent, with the nature and duties of the participating libraries.

Neglecting minor differences, such libraries fall into two groups: Reference libraries, including libraries of colleges and universities; and libraries whose work is of a more popular character; or, to state the matter in terms of readers: Libraries, most of whose readers are "serious," and libraries, some, at least, of whose readers are not so very serious.

This distinction is not a sharp one, yet it produces wide divergence in the point of view, and in the practice of these two classes of libraries. A comparison of the third contribution to this symposium with the first and second will make this matter evident. Both points of view are accurate, and varieties of practice, provided only that they exist among the members of a comprehensive system, are the best guarantees of the ultimate achievement of great results.

C. H. GOULD, Chairman.

I.

The purpose of inter-library loans is to make available the unusual material in one library to an enquirer who cannot visit it in person and does not find available the identical material in some institution nearer at hand or which has a nearer constitutional duty to serve him. The service to him must be subject to the convenience of the constituency of the lending library and can be expected only if the risk and expense of it shall be met by the borrowing library in his behalf.

1. It is not to be expected therefore that a library will lend either (1) books which if not in the applicant library, are within the ordinary duty of the latter to supply; or (2) books in constant use among its own readers; or (3) books for the general reader as against the investigator.

2. It is not to be expected that material will be sought the transportation of which, even with the best precautions, involves a necessary injury,—as for instance, by strain,—or a contingent injury in its use outside of the walls of the institution owning it by persons over whose use it has no supervision. A stipulation for its use within the walls of the borrowing library, while entirely reasonable, may not cover the case completely, as the responsibility for the care of the material cannot, by a mere stipulation for care, be transferred from the owning to the borrowing library.

3. Subject to 2, the important service in inter-library loans being to make generally available the unusual book for the unusual need of the serious investigator, the fact that the book needed is either rare, or part of a set which may be marred by the loss of a single volume, or that it is even unique, as for instance a manuscript, ought not to be conclusive against the loan, for it is just through such material that the inter-library loans may render their most important service.

4. The applicant library should refrain from applying (a) for ordinary books which are within its constitutional duty to supply to its immediate readers, or (b) for unusual books requested for a purpose which it knows to be trivial, or by a person of whose discretion and seriousness it is not assured, or (c) for books which, within the legitimate provisions of a loan are to be had from some institution nearer at hand, or having a nearer constitutional duty to it and to the constituency which it serves, or (d) for books which upon their face must be in constant use in any library possessing them.

5. The lending library may reasonably stipulate: (a) That the entire cost of the service shall be met by the borrowing library, and may look to this library alone as responsible both for the safety and prompt return of the material and for the replacement of the material if lost or damaged, and (b) it may reasonably include as part of the expense: (1) packing; (2) carriage; (3) insurance; (4) the fraction, if estimable, which the particular loan should bear of the expense of administering the service. (c) As to the duration of the loan: that it shall not exceed the period of its local loans, with an allowance added for the transit both ways; and the lender may reasonably couple with this a right of summary recall. It may also impose penalties for delays in returning material, or for carelessness in its use or in repacking. It may of course reserve the right to decline further loans to a library which has shown indifference in these regards, or whose applications have been incessantly frivolous. (d) It may of course limit the number of volumes lent to any one library or for the use of any one investigator at any one time. (e) It may, without prejudicing applications from other institutions, deny the application of any particular library, because of lack of assurance as to the safety or intelligent use of the material if lent. Its decisions in this regard resting often upon the impressions of a general experience, ought to be unembarrassed. It should not therefore be called upon to explain them.

HERBERT PUTNAM.

II

A statement of general policy in regard to inter-library loans

The primary purpose of inter-library loans is the promotion of scholarship by placing books not commonly accessible and not in use in one library, temporarily at the service of a scholar who has access to some other library. It should not be allowed to interfere with the reasonable and customary use of books by home readers, and the extent to which sending can be carried depends on the local conditions of the lending library, the importance of the service to be rendered, the character of the books desired, the distance to which they are to be sent, and a number of other circumstances.

The larger university libraries, having large numbers of professors, advanced students and other professional scholars immediately dependent on them, may find it necessary to restrict the scope of their loans in justice to their local constituency, while others may rightly extend the system beyond the limits indicated, so as to meet the wants of readers in public libraries, teachers in high schools, and others.

Libraries should not be expected to lend text-books for general class use, popular manuals or books for the general reader, inexpensive books and those which can easily be procured through the book-trade, books to assist in school or college debates, or books for ordinary purposes of school or undergraduate study. Neither should they lend books which are likely to be in frequent demand by their own readers, or books which they do not lend at home on the ground that they ought always to be accessible on the shelves. In this respect practice will naturally differ widely, one library being ready to lend books which another would consider it necessary to keep always at hand.

Caution should be exercised in lending volumes of newspapers, periodicals or society transactions and parts of expensive sets, since such volumes, if lost, are disproportionately expensive and sometimes practically impossible to replace. Moreover, periodicals and society publications are often unexpectedly wanted for the purpose of verifying references, etc., and students may justly expect that they will always be accessible with a minimum of delay.

The borrowing library should bear the expense of transportation both ways, and additional charges, if required, for the insurance of specially valuable books. It should be financially responsible for the replacement of books lost or injured in transit.

Borrowing libraries should take pains to borrow from sources nearest at hand or most naturally under obligation to lend.

Titles of books wanted should be given with all practicable precision, both to insure getting the very thing asked for and to make the labor of finding the book as light as possible for the lending library.

Applications for loans should always be made through the librarian of the borrowing library and not directly by the professor or student for whose advantage the loan is desired. If books are lent on direct request of the individual, not transmitted through the library with which he is associated, this library cannot be held responsible for the prompt and safe return of the books or for replacing them if lost in transit. Librarians are therefore justified in declining to lend on direct request and in insisting that application must be made through the librarian.

A library is justified in placing a limit on the number of volumes which it may be expected to lend at one time to a single institution—say five or ten volumes.

Loans should be made for a definite period, but the length of this period naturally varies with the occasion. The period begins with the despatch of the book from the lending library and ends with the day on or before which the book should be sent off by the borrowing library. If an extension of time is desired, it should be asked for long enough in advance of the book's being due to enable an answer to be received. Books may always be recalled by the lending library in advance of the date originally named if needed for the reasonable service of its home readers.

In lending rare books, large volumes, portfolios of plates, etc., a library may be expected to insist that they must be used only within the building of the borrowing library. In some cases, it may be advisable to put the same restriction on all books lent.

Fines may properly be charged and collected for books detained beyond the allotted time without request for extension. Repeated failure to return books promptly, or negligence in packing them safely is sufficient ground for declining to make further loans. When books are sent out or returned, separate notice of the fact should be sent by mail, stating date of shipment, mode of conveyance, etc. It is recommended that blank forms prepared for this purpose be used. Applications for loans may also most conveniently be made on suitable blanks.

Libraries that are called upon for frequent loans are justified in making a moderate charge in connection with every volume lent, sufficient in the long run to cover the administrative expense involved in looking up and sending off volumes asked for. This charge is not to be considered as a payment for the use of the book, but is intended simply to relieve the lending library of an undue burden of expense unavoidably attendant upon the system of lending with some freedom to other libraries.

It is recommended that libraries arrange so that the services of some competent person may be regularly available at a moderate charge for looking up information, verifying references, etc., when the time and labor involved in such inquiries seem to exceed what may reasonably be demanded of the library staff. The employment of such a person to obtain specific information will also occasionally serve in place of making a loan.

It is also suggested that the possession of a cameragraph, for making rotary bromide prints, or other similar device by which facsimile copies can be made inexpensively, would often enable a library to send a satisfactory copy of portions of a rare book or manuscript in place of lending the original.

WILLIAM COOLIDGE LANE.

III

Inter-library loans

I. Purpose.

(1) Prompt service. (a) The book, if purchased, might have to come from a greater distance and so cause delay. (b) The book, if out of print, would take time to find or might not be possible for an agent to locate for a very long time, if at all.

(2) Economical service. (a) The library that loans the book. Rather than have a book, that has cost time and money, stand idle on the shelves, the library owning it would be better repaid for the expenditure if the book were used by more people. (b) The library that borrows the book. Rather than purchase a book which would seldom be requested, it would be better to borrow it, and use one's funds and time and shelf room for books that would be in constant demand. For example: take two special lines of library service here in California at the present time.

(1) Books for the blind. Aside from a small collection in the San Francisco reading room and library for the blind for the local blind, and the small collection for the students in the Berkeley California institute for the education of the blind and the deaf, the state library has almost all the books and magazines used by the blind of the state. It would not be economical for other libraries or individuals to undertake to carry on this work, so the state library discourages anyone else buying such books and undertakes to furnish them to anyone needing them. If many want to read certain periodicals they are duplicated several times and sent in order to the various blind borrowers.

(2) Medical books and periodicals. The Lane medical library in San Francisco and the Barlow medical library in Los Angeles have perhaps the best medical collections in the state. The state library of course has and is building up a collection in this line for the use of the whole state, but it often borrows from the first two mentioned.

II. Scope.

There will be no limit, apparently, to the scope of inter-library loans in California. Each library at present makes an effort to loan anything asked of it by any other library. For example, the state library buys no fiction, but from the union catalogs of the county free libraries which is located at the state library, it is possible to tell where a certain book is located and to direct one to the other for a rush request of fiction.

Rare books are loaned by library to library and used by the borrower at the library.

Newspapers it is not necessary now to loan as by cameragraphing the needed extract from them, the expense, wear and tear, and risk of such loans are avoided. The same applies to articles in unbound or bound periodicals. Cameragraphing an article in a periodical also makes unnecessary the duplicating of certain periodicals because of some especially needed article. Cameragraphing is also economical in that it keeps the files in the library and so more material is always available for reference use.

Even reference books, however, are loaned or borrowed frequently to meet certain needs. So the scope is of necessity a matter of judgment of the particular case in question.

III. Extent of borrower's financial responsibility.

When a library borrows, it takes the financial responsibility, in case of loss or injury, and if the borrower is an individual, he takes it. The State library pays transportation on all loans to and from the county free libraries, and the county free library on all loans within the county. Loans to other libraries are usually paid—sending charge by the library sending the book and returning charge by the library returning the book.

The expense of administering the service of inter-library loans is not being considered here in California, and we believe that question will never arise here, no matter how great the demands on each other grow to be.

The spirit of co-operation is growing so rapidly here that the rivalry seems to be more who has and can give more rather than who can take more.

IV. Order in which libraries should be applied to for a loan.

There is no order here in California except that almost all libraries apply first to the State library and the State library being naturally the best informed on the special lines of strength in the various libraries in California, can request the library that is either known to have it or is likely to have it, to forward it to the library needing it. This is already possible for periodical files as there is at the State library a union list of periodical files in California libraries. Periodicals which are not in any California library, are borrowed with least loss of time, from the Library of Congress or Surgeon General's library.

V. Average duration of loans.

It would not be economical to plan a time limit on loans, as usually the library requesting it states the time the book will be needed and it is, if possible, loaned for that period. As soon as the library borrowing it is through with it, even if sooner than the time it expected to need it, the book is returned. Any book must of necessity be subject to recall by the library loaning it. There cannot well be a limit to the number of volumes loaned at any one time. That would naturally depend upon the need. No fines or other penalties for negligence in returning loans are necessary where there is a spirit of perfect co-operation, as librarians all understand the necessity of system, and in California at least, show great consideration for each other.

VI. Forms of application for loans; notice of shipment, etc.

The forms used by the State library and county free libraries in California have been found to be perfectly satisfactory. Requests are sent in to the State library in duplicate. One is returned with the disposition made of it written on it and the duplicate is kept on file as a record at the State library. If not in the State library a similar duplicated request is sent to some other library.

VII. Inter-library loans in California.

We in California find that a request is never refused and that requesting such loans in itself makes a library proud of its strength and of its place in the system and builds up in this way a strong feeling for co-operation.

The rules to be adopted for inter-library loans in California will be those that experience shows are necessary, and are likely to give the best results for California conditions.

J. L. GILLIS.

COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION WITH THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

The Committee on Co-operation with the National Education Association is in a position to report that an appointment has been made by the executive board of the National Education Association of a representative of the American Library Association to speak at the third general session of its meeting in Chicago on the place of the library in educational movements. The committee feels that this recognition of the work of the library on the part of the National Education Association is a decided victory, as for many years the authorities of the National Education Association have courteously but constantly turned away from the request made by the American Library Association committee for a representative on their program.

A selection was made of Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick, librarian of the St. Louis public library, to present the library cause before the National Education Association. It is needless to add with full assurance, that the matter is safe in his hands.

At the invitation of the president of the library department of the National Education Association, Mr. E. W. Gaillard of New York, the committee has endeavored as best it could in the short time allowed, owing to the lateness of the invitation, to make an exhibit of American Library Association material, booklists and material illustrative of the relations between libraries and schools, to be in place at the National Education Association meeting to be held in Chicago.

It seems, therefore, that the work of the past year is one that should afford satisfaction in the recognition that the American Library Association has received from the National Education Association.

President George E. Vincent, of the University of Minnesota, who will deliver an address at the Ottawa conference, at the invitation of the American Library Association program committee, has been invited to present the official greetings of the National Education Association to the American Library Association.

The committee through its chairman has advised with several groups of school librarians, but it has been the policy to confine action to affairs in which the national organizations as individual units were concerned.

MARY EILEEN AHERN, Chairman,
GENEVIEVE M. WALTON,
IRENE WARREN,
GEORGE H. LOCKE,
J. C. DANA.

The PRESIDENT: The next report is that of the committee on catalog rules for small libraries.

The SECRETARY: The chairman of this committee, Miss Theresa Hitchler, wrote me that she hoped to make a report through some other member of the committee, and that it was the hope of the committee to have that work finished by fall.

The PRESIDENT: Then the chair will accept that as a report of information.

Adjourned.

SECOND GENERAL SESSION

(Russell Theatre, Friday, June 28, 9:30 a. m.)

First Vice-President Henry E. Legler presided.

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: It has always been a moot question as to what vice-presidents were for. Mrs. Elmendorf has undertaken the very doubtful experiment of endeavoring to find out, and so she has designated the respective vice-presidents in their order to preside over the meetings of the conference.

We shall reverse the order of the program and call for the committee reports first.

The following reports were presented and received, all having been previously printed, with the exception of the supplement to the report of the committee on library administration and that on work with the blind. The committee on international relations stated that they had no report to make.

COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL AND STATE RELATIONS

Your committee's chief activity has been along the line of a parcels post, as we have felt that was the most feasible measure for obtaining lower postal rates. The chairman of the committee had personal interviews with the chairmen of the House and Senate committees on Post Office, and filed with the latter a formal endorsement of the parcels post, as well as the resolution looking in that direction, passed by the Council at its meeting in January last. The committee recommends that the continuance of this advocacy be authorized by the association.

We also recommend that the association endorse a movement for the better safeguarding of the national archives and rendering them accessible to students, feeling that the preservation of these governmental records is one of considerable importance, and one in which librarians have an especial interest, inasmuch as they have under their care manuscripts as well as printed books.

The attention of depository libraries is called to the report of Senator Smoot, on the revision of printing laws (62nd Congress, second session. Report 414, p. 33 and following) which discusses the proposed amendments to the laws with reference to depository libraries.

BERNARD C. STEINER.

COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION

Your committee has not been active during the whole year, the present chairman having been appointed to fill a vacancy. What it has done has been in the way of a small beginning toward a general survey of methods in public libraries, which it is hoped may be carried forward to completion in future years.

The scientific position that the first thing to do, in making an investigation, is to find out the facts, has only recently been taken in work of this kind. It has generally been assumed by those who have desired to better conditions of any sort that the existing conditions were well known to all. The fact is that no one person or group of persons is in a position to know all the conditions thoroughly and that the elementary task of ascertaining them and stating them is usually by no means easy. It is now generally recognized that we must have a Survey—an ascertainment and plain statement of the facts as they are—as a preliminary to action or even to discussion.

It has seemed to your committee that the general feeling, shared by the educational and industrial worlds, that methods are not always efficiently adjusted to aims should find some place also in the library. We are spending large sums of public money, and investigations by "economy committees," "efficiency bureaus" and the like are taking place all around us. It will be well for us to take a step in advance of these and get for ourselves some sort of a birds-eye view of our work, from the standpoint of its possible lack of complete efficiency—adaptation of end to aim. In order to do this we must first have a survey, which we conceive to involve in this case a statement of just what libraries are trying to do and just how, in some minuteness of detail, they are trying to do it. Comparison and discussion of methods will naturally follow later.

The method of taking up this matter was suggested by some very preliminary work done in the St. Louis public library. The head of each of the various branches and departments was asked to make a detailed written list of the various operations performed by the assistants in that particular department, dividing them into purely mechanical acts and those involving some thought or judgment. This in itself proved to be an interesting task and both information and stimulation resulted from it. Certain operations, common to the largest number of kinds of work, were then selected and tests were made, involving both speed of performance and efficiency of result. From a large number of such tests it is expected that some standardization of operations may result, or at any rate the cutting out of useless details and the saving of time for needed extensions of work. The object of an investigation of this kind is of course not to discover ways of making assistants work harder and faster but to find out whether the same amount of work, or more of it, may not be done with less effort.

To extend this bit of experimental work, which has not progressed beyond its first steps, to all the libraries of the United States is of course impossible without modification. Your committee has not the machinery to handle detailed lists of operations from thousands of different libraries. Fortunately it is easy to select operations that are common to very large numbers of libraries of divers sizes and kinds and in all parts of the country. As examples of such operations, and as a small beginning, we selected those of accessioning, charging and discharging, and counting issue. Even with a narrowing of the field to two operations, however, it was impossible to investigate these in all our libraries, or even in a large number. After a discussion by correspondence, revealing some difference of opinion, we decided to select about twenty-five libraries, as representative as possible of different sizes, different institutions and different localities. The list as finally made up was as follows:—

• Public Libraries
• New York
• St. Louis
• Pratt Institute
• East Orange, N. J.
• Atlanta, Ga.
• State Libraries
• New York
• Iowa
• California
• Connecticut
• Virginia
• University Libraries
• Harvard
• Syracuse
• Oberlin
• Kansas University
• Shurtleff College
• Alton, Ill.
• Trinity College
• Hartford, Conn.
• Tulane University
• New Orleans, La.
• Reference Libraries
• Grosvenor, Buffalo.
• Newberry, Chicago.
• Subscription Libraries
• Mercantile, N. Y.
• Athenaeum, Boston.
• Mercantile, St. Louis.
• Special Libraries
• Bar Association, N. Y.
• Academy of Medicine, N. Y.
• Engineering societies, N. Y.
• John Crerar, Chicago.

To the librarians of each of these libraries was then sent the following letter:—

To the Librarian:—

The Committee on Library Administration of the A. L. A. is beginning a survey of simple operations common to all sorts of libraries, especially with a view to finding out whether there is much diversity of detail in them, and ultimately of noting particular methods that seem likely to result in time-saving or in better results. For the moment, however, a mere survey, involving a detailed description of the method of performing certain kinds of work is all that is aimed at. The Committee has selected 26 libraries of very different sizes and types, and yours is one of these. If you are willing to co-operate, will you kindly send at once to the chairman a description, in as minute detail as possible, of the following operations:

• Accessioning
• The counting of issue
• The charging of books
• The discharging of books

Please describe each step of these operations seriatim and in detail, not omitting such as are purely mechanical, and noting points where different assistants would be apt to act in different ways. A description of the operation of accessioning in the New York public library (Reference department) is enclosed as a sample.

If you can not do this, please notify us immediately, that another library may be put on the list in your place.

• Accessioning
• The counting of issue
• The charging of books
• The discharging of books

Yours truly,

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Chairman,
HARRY M. LYDENBERG,
ETHEL F. McCOLLOUGH,

A. L. A. Com. on Administration.

Sooner or later we obtained the desired data from 20 of the 26 libraries to which this letter was sent. Only one, the Grosvenor Library of Buffalo, returned no answer. Five declined on various grounds. The California State library wrote to us: "We do not feel satisfied with our present arrangements and do not believe we are in a position to offer any suggestions that would be of service in connection with this investigation." The Mercantile library of New York wrote: "We regret that we find ourselves unable to co-operate with your committee in this undertaking." The librarian of Trinity college, Hartford, writes that "with the exception of student assistants the librarian is the entire staff." The senior regent of Shurtleff college, Alton, Ill., writes: "Our building is not yet complete and in the management of the old, we are so nearly without a system that I hardly feel it worth while to try to reply to these questions." The librarian of the New York Engineering Societies writes: "This library * * * has no charging system. Its system of accessioning will be abandoned as soon as possible. I suggest that you enter another library on your list."

Replies such as these seem to imply a misconception of the nature and purposes of a survey. Our object is to ascertain facts, not to gather a selected number of ideal cases.

For these five libraries the following were substituted:

• Westminster College, Fulton, Mo.
• Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.
• Washington State Library.
• New York Society Library.
• Forbes Library, Northampton, Mass.

These furnished that data for which we asked, with the exception of the Washington State library, which declined. We have material, therefore, from 24 libraries altogether.

The last of this body of data comes to hand just as this preliminary report goes to press, but it is being digested and tabulated and some of the results, at least, will be ready for the Ottawa meeting, although there will not be time for any study of these results or for recommendations based thereon.

The reports from the various libraries will be on file at headquarters at Ottawa and will be accessible to all members of the association who desire to consult them.

Regarding the question of the counting of circulation through traveling libraries, deposits and the like, which has been referred to your committee, we beg to report as follows:—

The sending of books from a library to a school, a club, or some other place where they are to be used or circulated may be regarded in two ways by librarians. It may be held that the sending of the books from the library is itself an act of circulation or that the place to which they are sent for use or distribution is a temporary station of the library, and that sending books thereto is no more circulation than if they were sent to a library branch or delivery station. Obviously, if the former view is accepted, no use that is made of the book after it reaches the station can be recorded by the library. When we have lent a book to a reader we do not inquire how many persons in the family use it or whether a neighbor borrows it. The library borrower is responsible for it and it simply counts as one in the issue. But if the place to which it goes is to be treated as a station, then the use of the book at or from that station is part of the library record. If it is used in the school, club, or other place where it is deposited, such use is not circulation, however, but hall or library use, as if it had been used in a branch library. If it is issued from the station for home use, such issues, and every such issue, is properly counted with the circulation.

It seems to your committee that the second of these alternatives is the one that should be recognized, both from theoretical and practical reasons. The sending of a collection of books to a place where it is to be used resembles much more closely the temporary transfer of such collection to a branch than it does ordinary circulation. Practically also, it is desirable to take account of whatever use is made of the books in such places and logically this can be done only on the second theory.

On neither of the theories is it allowable to count the original sending as one issue and then to count or estimate issues from the station; or to count uses in the station as home issues.

Some libraries report that they are unable to secure proper statistics of use at the station and that they must therefore either count the original issue or guess at the use in some way, or fail to report it at all. In cases of this kind, whatever is done should be made plain by a note in connection with the published statistics.

To recapitulate, we recommend:

(1) That the act of sending books from the library to a station of any kind, no matter how temporary, be not regarded as an issue to be counted in the circulation, although separate account of books thus sent should be kept and may be published if desired.

(2) That books used in the station be counted as hall or library use and that books issued from the station be counted as home use.

(3) That where it is found necessary to depart from this method in any way, such departure be plainly stated in a foot note to the published report.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Chairman.
ETHEL F. McCOLLOUGH,
HARRY M. LYDENBERG.

(Supplementary Report)

As a supplement to that portion of its report which has already been presented, your committee now submits the following preliminary tabulation and discussion of results. As is usual, in such investigations, our questions have not been interpreted in the same way by all to whom they have been addressed. Supplementary questions must therefore be sent out in many cases and these must be framed separately for each case. This will be the next work of this committee, should you see fit to continue it as at present constituted.

Your committee trusts that it is clearly understood that it does not desire to infer from the extremely small proportion of cases discussed anything that should be properly inferred only from a large number of cases. Facts are stated numerically, but no numerical conclusions are or can be drawn. At this stage of the investigation no recommendations at all can be made.

Accessioning

The material received varies so much in respect to the items reported upon, and the fullness with which each step is treated, that a second questionnaire must be sent out before there can be any uniformity of tabulation. For example:—

One librarian writes us, "We keep no accession book for ordinary circulating books, only for expensive art books" and fails to state what items are entered.

Another reports that "the books are accessioned, each separate volume being given a separate accession number" but does not say whether an accession book is used or not.

Two librarians write that "the Standard A. L. A. Accession book is used" and leave us to infer that every column is filled in.

And two assure us that the promised material will be sent in soon.

It is interesting to note, however, that only two libraries, the Boston Athenaeum and the Forbes library, use the Bill Method of accessioning. The other libraries all use an accession book, but differ widely in the number of items entered; for example, one library enters only author, title, source and price, and another has an accession book printed for its own use, including columns for the following: Date of entry, accession number, place of publication, publisher, date of book, size, class, additions classified (including a column for each of the main classes in the D. C. system, one for fiction, and one for juvenile books), volumes bought, volumes received as gifts, periodicals bound, pamphlets bound, the language of the book (4 separate columns marked Eng. Ger. Fr. and Other), source, publisher's price, discount, net price, binding, remarks.

The majority of libraries reporting, use the A. L. A. standard accession book or the condensed form of the same.

• Libraries Using Book Method
• Atlanta.
• Bar Association of N. Y.
• East Orange.
• Iowa State Library.
• John Crerar Library.
• Kansas State University.
• Kings County Medical.
• N. Y. City Circulating Department.
• N. Y. City Reference Department.
• N. Y. State Library.
• N. Y. Society Library (accessions only expensive art books).
• Newberry Library.
• Oberlin College.
• Pratt Institute Free Library.
• St. Louis Mercantile Library.
• St. Louis Public Library.
• Syracuse University.
• Tulane University.
• Virginia State University.
• Wesleyan University.
• Westminster College.
• Libraries Using Bill Method
• Boston Athenaeum.
• Forbes Library.

Charging and Discharging

The data contributed on this subject are so uneven and varying that any accurate and minute comparison is impossible at present. The functions that constitute a charge or discharge are variously regarded by different libraries. The eighteen libraries forming the basis of this study, with a note of their charging systems, may be roughly arranged in the following groups:

• College or University Libraries
• Oberlin. Double file. Borrowers' file and book file under date.
• Syracuse. Double file. Borrowers' file and book file under call-number.
• University of Kansas. Double file. Borrowers' file and book file under date.
• Tulane. Single file. Book file under class.
• Wesleyan. Double file. Borrowers' file under date and book file.
• Westminster. Single file. Book file under date.
• Public or Circulating Libraries
• Boston Athenaeum (Subscription). Double record. Borrowers' file and book record under date.
• Carnegie Library of Atlanta. Newark System (no details).
• East Orange Public Library. Newark System (many variations).
• Forbes Library. Browne System.
• New York Public Library. Newark System.
• Pratt Institute Free Library. Newark System.
• St. Louis Mercantile Library (subscription). Browne System.
• St. Louis Public Library. Newark System.
• State Libraries
• Iowa State. Reference. (Uses temporary slip when a book is issued for home use filed under date.)
• Virginia State. Double file. Borrowers' file and book file by titles.
• Reference Libraries
• Newberry Library. No attempt has been made to study the charge or discharge of books for library use.
• Society Library
• Medical Society of King's County. Borrowers' record.

Reversing this arrangement and grouping under charging systems, we have:

• Newark System—6.
• Carnegie Library of Atlanta.
• East Orange Public Library.
• New York Public Library.
• Pratt Institute Free Library.
• St. Louis Public Library.
• Syracuse University (modified).
• Browne System—2.
• Forbes Library.
• St. Louis Mercantile Library.
• Double File—Borrower and Book—6.
• Boston Athenaeum.
• Oberlin College.
• Syracuse.
• University of Kansas.
• Virginia State Library.
• Wesleyan University.
• Single File—Book File under Date or Class—3.
• Iowa State Library.
• Tulane University.
• Westminster College.
• Borrowers' Record—1.
• Medical Society of County of Kings.

It is evident from this tabulation that libraries of the same character use the same systems—identical in their essentials but different in detail. College libraries and those whose use corresponds to that of a college library find with but two exceptions a double file useful—one of borrower and one of books—the latter varying greatly in arrangement, owing to the distinctions between students and faculty.

A résumé of the college and state systems studied follows:

Iowa State. When book is issued, assistant copies the call number from the book plate upon a manila charge slip, then adds the name of borrower and her date of loan. Charge slips are deposited temporarily in a drawer, and next morning are arranged by call-number and filed in the charging tray. There are no fines; books are issued subject to call. The first of each month the tray is examined; all slips bearing a date a month old are taken out, compared with the shelves to ascertain if the books have been returned, and shelved without being discharged, and with the shelf list, to verify the call number; at which time the author and title are copied on the reverse side of slip. Notices requesting the return of books are filled in with the author, title and date of loan, and sent to borrowers. Date of notice is placed on charge slips with colored pencil, and the slips refiled in tray. In discharging books, the slips bearing corresponding call numbers are taken from tray and destroyed.

Oberlin College. Charge. Book pocket contains two cards, one white, one pink with author's name, title of book and call number and accession number. Borrower signs name on both and leaves on desk. Dating slip with date of issue is put in book pocket. Assistant stamps both cards with date of issue—filing white cards by call number under date and pink card alphabetically with borrower's card under borrower's name. These are ultimately divided into two files, the "day file" and the "long file," the latter including books drawn by professors and others privileged to retain them more than two weeks. When book is returned dating slip is taken out and saved for future use. Book is checked off by finding book card in file and borrower's name is checked from that. Pink card is then withdrawn from borrower's file.

Syracuse University. Borrower's cards are kept on file by serial number. When a book is issued its call number is written on borrower's card and date of issue stamped on it and on dating slip. Book card is stamped with borrower's number and date of issue. Borrower's card is filed under number and book card filed by call number. When book is returned book is checked off, date on borrower's card stamped with date of return and the card put in regular file of borrower's cards. (The book card system itself seems to be the Newark).

Tulane University. Borrower makes out a temporary book card which is filled out with the book data, his name and address and date and is filed by class. When book is returned temporary book card is destroyed.

University of Kansas. Corresponds to Oberlin except that book card filed with borrower's card is not signed or dated and that the single file is by class. Has two files—one for students under date and one for faculty under name. Books are discharged at students' leisure by checking off.

Virginia State. Borrowers' file and book file of temporary book cards alphabetically under title.

Wesleyan. When book is issued a manilla slip is written giving name of borrower, call number, author and title. The date due is stamped on dating slip in book. Slip is placed in box and next morning a second slip is made from it giving call number first, then author, title and name of borrower. Date due is then stamped on both cards. First card (borrower's slips) are filed (by date if student, by name, if professor). The other slips (book cards) are filed alphabetically under author. Book is discharged by checking off—both slips being withdrawn from issue and presumably destroyed.

Westminster. No students' cards. Permanent book card—stamped with date and borrower's name. Date stamped on book pocket. Cards filed under date. Assistant discharges at leisure by checking off.

Public or circulating libraries prefer the Newark or Browne system—the majority the Newark:

Boston Athenaeum. Corresponds to Oberlin save that day of year instead of day of month is used for dating. That one slip is filed in borrowers' case with information relating to borrower's assessments, etc., instead of with borrower's card, and that the single file is by author. When book is returned date of return is stamped on book slips when book is checked off.

Carnegie Library of Atlanta. Newark system, using slots in desk to sort cards. No details of checking off.

East Orange. Newark system, using colored bookcards to distinguish classes. Magazines and four weeks' books not stamped on reader's cards. In children's room non-fiction not stamped on reader's card. Books checked off near charging desk.

Forbes Library. Browne system. Borrower's pockets filed numerically under each letter of alphabet in order of registration. Fiction and non-fiction pockets kept in separate file. When book is issued borrower gives his number by which his pocket is found. Book card is taken from book pocket and put in borrower's pocket and date of return is stamped on book pocket. Book record is kept by arranging under date, book cards in pockets alphabetically under author and title. (Details of information on book card not given). Book is discharged by withdrawing book card from borrower's pocket and transferring to book pocket. Recent books (last two years) are evidently discharged and shelved at once. Others three times a day. Empty borrower's pockets are filed throughout the day.

New York Public. Newark system. Book card has author's surname, title of book, class number and accession number. Variously colored book cards are used to indicate various classes. Assistant makes hurried examination of book to be issued and copies borrower's card number on book card and stamps date with dating pencil on reader's card, book pocket and book card—the latter to be done at leisure if there is a rush. Puts borrower's card in pocket and gives books to reader. Book card is dropped in proper slot in desk (ten slots indicating the ten classes). Book cards filed under date of issue by class author and accession number. Book cards for foreign books are arranged alphabetically after book cards in English. When book is discharged, assistant checks off book comparing date of card with that of book, examines book for damage and then cancels date on reader's card, restoring card to reader. (Note. It hardly seems that this checking off before cancelling date on reader's card can be done except in a very slack hour, and must cause annoying delay to reader). Books are then placed on truck to right of assistant, later revised and shelved.

System has many exceptions, one of which is to write reader's card number on dating slip as well as book card. Others are the writing of Special or Sp. on book card, opposite card number to indicate the privilege of extended time to special cardholder, as well as on dating slip. In this case, call number or accession number is written on card (presumably reader's card) and the use of branch initial on reader's card to show card issued from a branch other than that from which book is borrowed.

This library uses a reader's receipt file for books returned without card—a slip giving name, address, card number, class number, date of issue and return. This system with variations is also in use in the St. Louis public library (called the "write-ups") and also in the Pratt Institute free library and supposedly many others.

Pratt Institute Free Library. Newark System. Uses different ink pads for fiction and non-fiction, and dating pencils. Puts book cards into slots in desk; fiction, non-fiction and teachers. Stamps dates first and then writes card number. Uses different ink pad for discharging. Charging and discharging (including checking off done at same desk) done by same assistant except in a rush hour. Checking off however is done at assistant's leisure—that is, the reader's card is stamped off before book card is found. Book cards are filed by class under date. Keeps a separate renewal file.

St. Louis Mercantile Library. Browne system, with separate reader's identification card, seldom used. Uses blue reader's pocket for fiction, salmon color for non-fiction, and manilla pockets for pay duplicates. Book card corresponds in color, except in case of regular books issued as extras. Book card has Cutter class number, author and title. Assistant stamps date due on dating slip and book card which is placed in reader's pocket. Pockets are put temporarily in tray near issue desk and later filed by class, under date due. Books are discharged by charging assistant at charging desk, by taking book card from pocket and slipping it into book. Empty reader's pockets are constantly being filed in regular reader's file.

St. Louis Public Library. Newark system. Different colored ink-pads for seven day and fourteen day books and for discharging. Reader's number first written on bookcard, then book card, dating slip and reader's card stamped. Reading-room books charged on slips filled out by reader. Two books generally are issued on one card but "Additional Books" stamped on reader's card entitles cardholder to a greater number of volumes, of non-fiction, usually six. This privilege is granted to educators, social workers and others engaged in serious study, at the discretion of the head of the circulation department.

Discharging is done at a separate desk in the usual way, receipts being filed for books returned without reader's card. Books are placed on a truck and checked off by a special assistant.

Society Library

The Medical Society of the County of Kings—Uses a borrower's receipt, giving author, title, accession number and borrower's signature. These receipts are filed by borrower's name. When book is returned, it is discharged by stamping date of return on receipt and placing in file of cancelled loans.

The libraries using colored book cards to denote the classes are:

• East Orange Public Library.
• New York Public Library.
• St. Louis Mercantile Library—colors simply indicating fiction or non-fiction.

Those using colored book cards for their double file (borrower's and book) are:

• Boston Athenaeum.
• Oberlin College.

At the time of book's issue bookcards are dropped into a drawer through slots designating classes of the books issued by the following libraries:

• Carnegie Library of Atlanta.
• New York Public Library.
• Pratt Institute Free Library—designates
• fiction, non-fiction and
• teachers.

Libraries using temporary bookcards, filled out at time of book's issue by borrower or assistant:

• Iowa State.
• Tulane University.
• Virginia State.
• Wesleyan University.

Libraries using a borrower's record for privileged classes (professors, etc.) and a time record for students:

• Kansas University.
• Oberlin University.
• Syracuse University.
• Wesleyan University.

Cards identifying the readers appear to be required by all the libraries save Westminster. These vary—those of the Boston Athenaeum, Medical Society of County of Kings, apparently taking the form of a subscription entry while the St. Louis Mercantile Library issues one as an identification card, which is seldom called into use.

Libraries using borrowers' cards in a file at the library to indicate what the reader has out, are:

• Oberlin.
• Syracuse—call numbers of books are written on students' cards.
• University of Kansas.
• Virginia.
• Wesleyan.
• Tulane.

Those using a borrower's card which remains in the possession of the borrower, while he has books from the library, to indicate number of books out, date either of issue or when due, and a date of return are those employing the Newark system:

• Carnegie Library of Atlanta.
• East Orange Library.
• New York Public Library.
• Pratt Institute Free Library.
• St. Louis Public Library.

Syracuse uses the Newark system but retains cards in borrower's file (under borrower's number) at library.

As regards the discharge of books, the use of the Browne system presupposes a complete discharge of the book, in case of a borrower taking another at the time of its return.

Libraries retaining borrowers' cards at the library discharge at their leisure.

Where the Newark system is used (with the exception of the New York public library) an incomplete discharge is made at the time of the book's return—consisting of the stamping of the date of return on reader's card. It is obviously impossible to delay a reader while book is checked off. Checking off is then done at leisure either at charging desk by desk assistant or special assistant appointed for that work.

Counting of Issue

The eighteen libraries reporting on this subject may be grouped under the following heads:

• Public or Circulating
• Boston Athenaeum (subscription).
• Carnegie Library of Atlanta.
• East Orange Library.
• Forbes Library.
• New York Public Library.
• Pratt Institute Free Library.
• St. Louis Mercantile Library (subscription).
• St. Louis Public Library.
• College or University
• Oberlin College.
• Syracuse University.
• Tulane University.
• University of Kansas.
• Wesleyan University.
• Westminster College.
• State Libraries
• Iowa State.
• Virginia State.
• Reference Library
• Newberry Library.
• Society Library
• Library of the Medical Society of the County of Kings.

Eight of these libraries record statistics of reference use:

• Newberry.
• New York.
• St. Louis Public.
• Syracuse.
• Tulane.
• Virginia State.
• Wesleyan.
• Westminster.

The following do not include reference use on their statistics sheets, although in some cases it is probably kept separately:

• Boston Athenaeum.
• Carnegie Library of Atlanta.
• East Orange.
• Forbes.
• Pratt Institute.
• St. Louis Mercantile.

The Medical Society of the County of Kings and Oberlin College library make no record of reference use, but the latter records daily and monthly attendance.

Four libraries keep no record by class:

• Boston Athenaeum.
• Medical Society of Kings.
• Wesleyan.
• Westminster.

The following count the circulation on the day of issue:

• Boston Athenaeum.
• Newberry.
• Pratt Institute.
• St. Louis Public.
• Virginia State.
• Westminster.

In all the other libraries it is counted next morning, save in Kings County Medical, where only an annual count is made.

East Orange and New York use colored bookcards to indicate the various classes; St. Louis Mercantile uses different colors for fiction, non-fiction and pay-duplicates, and Tulane uses a colored slip for reference requests.

Two libraries, Iowa State and University of Kansas, report that no record of issue is made.

Public or Circulating Libraries

Boston Athenaeum. The manilla cards forming the author record are counted at night and the number is entered in a book. There is no entry by class and reference use is not reported.

Carnegie Library of Atlanta. Issue is kept in three groups for fiction, rent or pay collection and classed books. The latter are arranged under class numerically or alphabetically. Fiction and rent collection are alphabeted and all are counted on the following morning and entered on a daily sheet, juvenile issue being counted separately. No report on reference issue.

East Orange. Colored bookcards are used here to indicate different classes. The issue is counted on the following morning and arranged according to the Dewey Classification and entered in a statistics book. No report on reference issue.

Forbes. Counted by groups of classes.

New York Public. Colored bookcards are used here. Adult and juvenile issue are counted separately on the following morning:

1. By Dewey classes, issues in each class being added together to obtain the total issue in each group and the two groups then added for the grand total of the day.

2. By language.

3. Poetry, periodicals and music are counted separately as well as with their respective classes.

Reference books are charged on slips, signed by the reader, the number of volumes issued being noted on the upper right hand corner. At the close of the day these slips are counted twice, first by readers and second by volumes.

Pratt Institute Free Library. The daily issue is counted on the day of issue and arranged in four groups—fiction, non-fiction, teachers and renewals, and entered on manilla slips which are divided into spaces for the ten Dewey classes and also for languages, duplicate pay collection, summer issue, delta and double star, the last two being special collections. These totals are all transferred to a daily statistics sheet. A reference record is not reported on, but is undoubtedly kept in some form.

St. Louis Mercantile. The issue is kept in seven and fourteen day trays and arranged by class, salmon colored cards being used for non-fiction and blue for fiction. Before the library opens in the morning the issue is counted and entered in a book under classes (Cutter). Reference record is not reported.

St. Louis Public. Issue is kept in trays, separated into groups for seven and fourteen-day fiction, the ten Dewey classes and (in summer) vacation issue. At night it is counted and entered on a statistic sheet, under the same heads. Reading-room issue is entered on the same sheet, also by class. The home issue is then separated by date, seven-days in one alphabet and fourteen-days in another, and arranged by author and accession number not class. This arrangement, by affording but one alphabet in which to search for a book due on a given date, reduces the opportunity for mistakes to a minimum. Three-day magazines are inserted with seven-day cards under the correct date. In the morning the circulation is revised for errors in alphabeting and also for illegible charges which are traced by means of a number, assigned to each assistant.

Reference use is entered on a form divided into four columns for main reference room, art room, technical department and totals. The entries are by class and the number of volumes given to each reader noted. All records are transferred the following morning to a permanent statistics book.

College or University Libraries

Oberlin. The author cards are arranged at night under date of issue by classes, fastened together with a rubber band and placed in the issue tray ahead of all previous circulation. In the morning they are counted and entered on a statistics sheet under class, then filed in the issue tray. Statistics of reference use are not kept.

Syracuse University. Statistics are recorded for home issue, reading room issue and attendance. When the books are charged they are divided into over-night and two week circulation; in the morning these are subdivided into twelve classes and again recorded as charged to students, faculty or departments. Methods of reporting reference use are not outlined but a record of some sort is made, probably at the discretion of the various reading-room attendants. One of the colleges (Applied Science) reports to the general library only once a year and others monthly. Other departments report only attendance.

Tulane University. Every morning charging slips are grouped into classes and counted. Yellow slips, indicating library use are counted in the same manner and then destroyed. Entry is made in a record book under class, library use being recorded in pencil and home issue in red ink directly beneath it.

University of Kansas. No record of issue is kept.

Wesleyan University. The issue is counted each morning in four groups; bound and unbound (issued to individuals), reserve, or books placed on reserve shelves and seminar, or volumes sent to seminars for temporary use. The last two groups are counted only at the time of issue, their reference use not being noted. Entry is made in a day book under these heads; no count is taken by classes.

Book cards are counted each evening for home circulation, reference books as they are given out during the day. There is apparently no record by class and the method of entry is not stated.

Westminster. Counted by class each evening. Reference books counted as issued.

State Libraries

Iowa State. No record of issue is kept.

Virginia State. A blank form spaced for fourteen classes is used for keeping the daily record of books given out both for reference and home use, the distinction being presumably indicated by the use of pen and pencil, although this point is somewhat obscure. At night these totals are added.

Reference Library

Newberry Library. There are six reference departments, each keeping statistics for men and women, morning and evening visitors and books used, the latter being entered by classes. These reports are drawn up at night and taken next morning to the accessions clerk who enters the figures in a permanent statistical record.

Society Library

Medical Society of the County of Kings. No record is here maintained of reference use. Home use slips are filed and counted annually to determine the circulation for the year but there is no record by class.

It is evident from the preceding tabulations that the reports of the various libraries are too uneven to admit of accurate comparison. Many points of interest, as the record of reference use, are omitted, although in many cases this record is doubtless preserved.

In closing your committee desires to acknowledge valuable assistance in the tabulation and discussion of the above results, rendered by three members of the St. Louis public library staff, Mrs. H. P. Sawyer, chief of the department of instruction, Miss Mary Crocker, chief of the open shelf department, Miss Jessie Sargent, first assistant in the issue department, and Miss Amelia Feary, of the catalog department.

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Chairman,
ETHEL F. McCOLLOUGH,
HARRY M. LYDENBERG,

Committee on Administration.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY TRAINING

After correspondence, it was decided at the beginning of the year to make another effort to obtain from the Executive Board an appropriation which would make possible the repeatedly suggested inspection of library schools. Accordingly, such a request was made at the meeting of the Executive Board at Chicago last January, and an appropriation of $200 was obtained.

About the same time, a request was presented to the chairman of the Committee on library training, signed by representatives of nearly all the library schools, requesting that the committee recommend a minimum standard admission, length of course, and curriculum for library schools.

To this the chairman replied, calling attention to the reports of 1905 and 1906, in which an endeavor had been made to meet a part of the request, and requesting that the schools indicate in what respects these reports should be modified or supplemented. The replies to this request are most interesting and will be of great service to the committee. When all the schools have answered this inquiry, the replies will be manifolded and the committee will give the request careful consideration. A thoroughly satisfactory recommendation, however, will naturally follow, rather than precede, the contemplated inspection of schools.

A tentative scheme of points to be observed in the proposed inspection has been prepared, and is being considered by persons interested. When their criticisms and suggestions have been received, the committee will consider the scheme. When approved by the members of the committee, and when the committee has found a suitable person to make the inspection, the library schools will be given the opportunity to ask for such inspection, and to the extent of the funds available for the purpose, the inspection will be made.

In the light of the facts obtained in such a careful study of the library schools, it is hoped to make some recommendations which will be of service to the schools, and to the profession.

On account of the absence of the chairman of the committee from the country since the first of February, the work has progressed slowly. For the same reason, this report is submitted without being first considered and approved by the other members of the committee.

AZARIAH S. ROOT, Chairman.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON WORK WITH THE BLIND

The committee on library work with the blind notes with satisfaction the progress which has been made in the past year towards increasing the production of new embossed literature. The installation of stereotype-makers operated by electricity and of power presses in some of the printing offices means a constantly increasing stock of books for circulation. Most important of all there seem to be indications that a new era is dawning when all America can unite on one point type.

The eleventh convention of the American association of workers for the blind, held at Overbrook, Pa., June, 1911, was marked by one session unparalleled in the history of type discussions, when, during the report of the uniform type committee, the blind themselves contributed $1800.00 towards the creation of a fund to be used in making scientific tests and experiments to determine upon a uniform system of embossed point print. With the completion of the fund of $3,000 and the co-operation of certain printing offices, members of the committee have been hard at work preparing tests and making experiments. An outline of the work of this committee appears in the "Outlook for the blind" for April, 1912, (v. 6, no. 1).

Lists of new publications in embossed type as well as lists of magazine articles referring to the blind are published from time to time in the "Outlook for the blind," which is the only magazine in this country especially helpful to workers for the blind. Librarians are urged to place the "Outlook for the blind" on reading tables and among the current magazines and to encourage its reading by the general public, who need educating concerning the best methods of helping the blind.

Helen Keller has said, "I follow with keen interest your efforts to make the 'Outlook for the blind' a success. Nothing is more useful to the sightless than an intelligent magazine in their interest, setting forth their needs, making known what they can do to earn a living, and advocating movements of the right sort in their behalf. The 'Outlook for the blind' is just such a publication. The fact that influential and wise persons who have the welfare of the blind at heart favor the magazine makes it all the more valuable. It deserves liberal support from philanthropists and practical workers for humanity."

The Samuel Gridley Howe Society has been organized in Cleveland, Ohio, with headquarters at 612 St. Clair Avenue, N. E. "The plan of this society is to raise funds from local sources to defray the cost of the presswork, the paper and the very simple binding used," in the work of adding to the list of books in tactile print.

The list of publications already issued, in American Braille without contractions, includes titles by Deland, Davis, John Fox, Jr., Van Dyke and others.

The Michigan school for the blind, at Lansing, now publishes a magazine in American Braille, with contractions, entitled the "Michigan herald for the blind," issued monthly except July and August. The subscription price is 25 cents per year.

The Xavier Braille publication society for the blind, 824 Oak Avenue, Chicago, which was organized in 1911, has since issued the "Catholic review," a monthly magazine in American Braille, with contractions, subscription $1.00 per year.

The Society for the promotion of church work among the blind announces that volumes 1 and 2 of the music of the Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church have been finished and are ready for distribution. Copies may be obtained from Mr. John Thomson, treasurer, 13th and Locust Streets, Philadelphia.

Since the fire in March, 1911, when the New York state library for the blind was almost totally destroyed, the new collection has grown with rapidity and is now nearly as large as at the time of the fire. Miss Mary C. Chamberlain, the librarian, writes, "We hope soon to make the collection larger than it has ever been."

The circulation of embossed books from the public library of Cincinnati, Ohio, "increased during the past year from 1,400 during 1910 to 3,900 during 1911, which was attributed to the fact that the library society for the blind has provided a catalog in point print, which is sent out."

The reading room for the blind in Washington, D. C., which was discontinued in 1911, has been reopened in the Library of Congress.

During the past year the Perkins institution for the blind has given away about 2,000 volumes in line type to libraries and schools, retaining a sufficient stock of duplicates for use in the circulating library of the school. The new library of the institution, now in course of construction at Watertown, Massachusetts, will be very large and commodious; it will be capable of holding 20,000 volumes, with provision for an extra gallery for 10,000 additional volumes if necessary.

In commemoration of the Dickens centenary, "Great Expectations" has been embossed in American Braille.

The committee plans a full report of libraries which are doing work for the blind and will endeavor to secure from them an outline of the work they are doing at present. In addition the special needs of readers will be sought with a view to having the books desired brought to the notice of one or more of the publishing houses. Efforts will be made to secure the establishment of additional libraries of embossed books in states where no such libraries are now maintained.

Respectfully submitted,

EMMA R. NEISSER DELFINO, Chairman.

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

Your Committee on Public Documents respectfully reports that two important reports relating to the printing, binding and distribution of government publications have been made and are now before Congress.

The first is the report of the Special Commission on Economy and Efficiency, appointed by President Roosevelt, and transmitted February 5, 1912, in a special message approving the same by President Taft, which "recommends that the work of distributing documents be centralized in the office of Superintendent of public documents in the Government Printing Office as a substitute for the present method of distribution by each of the departments, offices, and bureaus issuing such documents. The plan does not contemplate any change in the authority which determines the persons to whom documents shall be sent, but only that the physical work of wrapping, addressing, and mailing the documents shall be done at one place, and that the place of manufacture."

The second report is that made by the Congressional Committee on Printing of which Senator Smoot is chairman. This committee was appointed under an act of Congress approved March 3, 1905, and was directed to revise and codify the laws relating to public printing, binding and distribution of government publications. After seven years of investigations and hearings this committee has formulated and presented to Congress a new bill (Senate Bill 4239) covering this entire subject. This bill which makes radical changes in the general printing act approved January 12, 1895, has passed the Senate and is now before the House.

While both reports embody many recommendations and suggestions made by our association and by the librarians of our larger libraries, your Committee on public documents has thought best to delay its formal report until after the discussion at the sessions of the government documents round table, at which time a paper by Superintendent of Documents, August Donath, will be read, and possibly also one from Senator Smoot, who has written that other engagements will prevent him from being present and speaking.

As copies of the proposed bill and the special reports relating to the same have been sent to several librarians, it is hoped there will be a full and free discussion in order that any desirable changes or omissions in the proposed bill may be called to the attention of the Congressional Committee while there is an opportunity.

Respectfully submitted,

GEO. S. GODARD, Chairman.

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: No doubt all of you have very carefully and thoroughly read the printed report of the Publishing Board, which was distributed at the first session of this conference. It will therefore be unnecessary for me to point out to you some of the very important recommendations, or suggestions, which appear therein, and I mention it at this time merely for the purpose of adding that since the former session, through the generosity of Mr. Walter L. Brown of the Buffalo library, the Publishing Board is enabled to distribute in connection therewith a list which illustrates one of the very strong suggestions, as we think, which appears in that report. You will find this list for distribution at the entrance, and those of you who may care for it, may help yourselves as you pass out.[2]

[2] The list referred to was a reading list of selected books on Greece, prepared with annotated notes in the form advocated by Mrs. Elmendorf in the report of the Publishing Board.

We will now hear from the committee on deterioration of newspaper paper. We have had for the last two years some exceptionally interesting and important reports on that very important subject, and we are glad to know that Dr. Hill will at this time present a supplemental report covering the investigations which he has made during the last year, additional to the facts which he has reported heretofore. Dr. Hill will please report for this committee.

PRESERVATION OF NEWSPAPERS

Two years ago a report on the "Deterioration of newspapers" was presented to the American Library Association at the Mackinac conference, and as a consequence the executive board appointed Messrs. Frank P. Hill, Brooklyn public library, Horace G. Wadlin, Boston public library, and Cedric Chivers, bookbinder, a committee to consider the subject further and report back to the association. As stated at the Pasadena conference last year, the committee was appointed too late to make any satisfactory report at that time. This year the report can be only one of progress.

In order to bring the matter more clearly to your minds liberal quotations are made from the 1910 report.

"An examination of old Brooklyn and Manhattan papers showed that in many instances papers published within the last forty years had begun to discolor and crumble to such an extent that it would hardly pay to bind those which had been folded for any length of time. Upon further investigation it was found that practically all of these newspapers were printed on cheap wood pulp paper, which carries with it the seeds of early decay, and that the life of a periodical printed on this inferior stock is not likely to be more than fifty years.

"This is a serious matter and demands the attention of publishers and librarians throughout the country. It means that the material for history contained in the newspapers will not be available after the period mentioned, and that all such historical record will eventually disappear unless provision is made for reprinting or preserving the volumes as they exist at present. The historian depends to such an extent upon the newspapers for his data that it will mean a serious loss if some preservative cannot be found.

"As soon as the condition of the files of the Brooklyn public library was discovered a circular was sent to some of the prominent newspaper publishers asking (1) the result of their experience; (2) whether a better grade of paper was being used for running off extra copies for their own files; (3) what, if any, means were being taken to preserve the files in their own offices. It was hoped as a result of this circular that definite measures of improvement would be suggested. From responses received it is evident that there is a desire on the part of the publishers to meet the requirements of librarians and others on this subject; and it is likely that a conference of publishers and librarians will be held in the near future to consider the feasibility of printing some copies on better paper, but the answers showed that no special paper was used and that no means were taken to preserve (by reprinting or by chemical process) those in the worst condition.

"Inquiries were also sent to various manufacturers of paper with no better result. No encouragement was received from this source except that one manufacturer thought that some newspapers were using a better grade, and another, that he had just the paper which ought to be used. It was stated that two New York publishers used a better grade of paper for a few additional copies, but returns from these papers indicate that no difference is made at the present time."

During the past six months the members of the committee have been in correspondence with publishers regarding the possibility of striking off a few extra copies on a better quality of paper, and Mr. Chivers has taken upon himself the duty and responsibility of experimenting with a "cellit" solution prepared especially for the preservation of newsprint paper.

Early in June of this year the committee invited representatives of the leading New York and Brooklyn papers to meet in conference on the subject. The following papers were represented: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle by H. F. Gunnison, the New York American by Jerome Buck, the New York World by E. D. Carruthers, and the Publishers' Weekly by John A. Holden. The object of the conference was stated to be: 1st. The consideration of method of preserving bound volumes of newspapers; and 2nd. The possibility of publishers printing extra copies of the current issue on a better grade of paper for binding purposes.

Mr. Chivers stated that he had not used "celestron" the German product, but had made successful experiments with "cellit," an American solution. His investigation proved that the deterioration was due in a large measure to the exposure of the paper to light and air and that by covering the paper with a coating of "cellit" or "celestron" the pores were filled and oxidation prevented. He was afraid, however, that the question of expense would deter most librarians and publishers from dipping the volume page by page in the solution, as suggested in the earlier report of this committee, but expressed the hope that some method would be devised by which it could be used less expensively. Mr. Chivers was of the opinion that since oxidation begins at the edges the life of the paper may be extended from 50 to 75 years if the edges of the bound volume are painted with the solution, and that this treatment could be repeated with the same result. He called special attention to the necessity of binding newspapers as soon as possible after publication so that they need not be long exposed to the air. The desirability of this practice was emphasized by some of the publishers and by Mr. Arthur D. Little, the Boston chemist.

Considerable discussion arose over the question of printing extra copies of current issues on a better grade of paper, and the conclusion arrived at was that there was no practical objection to it, and that it could be done without very much extra cost of time, labor or paper.

The conference developed the fact that there was another drawback to the preservation of newspapers, namely, the poor quality of ink, and that nothing would be gained by using the better quality of paper unless a better quality of ink was used.

Mr. Carruthers, of the New York World, drew attention to the fact that the colored sections of the Metropolitan Sunday papers were destroyed by worms within a short time after publication.

So far as the committee was advised the first and only newspaper in the country to print extra copies on better paper was and is The Red Wing (Minn.) Republican, which furnishes copies of its publication to the State historical society for filing purposes.

Considerable publicity has been given the subject since the meeting through the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, and several valuable suggestions have been received.

Mr. Gunnison of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle writes:

"I have given considerable thought to the matter of the better grade of paper and have come to the conclusion that the only feasible way is to have rolls of good paper and use that after the regular edition of the paper is run off. As Mr. Carruthers of the World said, this would be almost impossible for some of the larger papers to carry out. The Eagle could do it very nicely because we have a different system of handling the paper and we shall try to put this into operation beginning with the first of the year."

As is well known the Eagle is one of the best newspapers in the United States, so that if anyone is particularly interested in securing for filing purposes a paper which will last for 100 years or more he should subscribe to the Eagle.

Miss Jane Roberts, of Newark, N. J., states that she uses a preparation put up by a Newark chemist and has met with success in its application.

Mr. Conde Hamlin of the New York Tribune sent in the following:

"I did think of one method which seemed to me would be less expensive than the use of a special grade of paper for the printing of a few copies. That would be to take a fine grade of French tissue paper and after separating the sheets which composed the paper to be preserved, covering both sides of the printed matter with this tissue and a fine grade of paste. This, of course, would make the bound volume much thicker but would preserve the paper itself.

"I doubt whether this suggestion is of any value but take the liberty of making it."

It was decided that the subject was of sufficient interest and importance to warrant further investigation and the conference adjourned to meet in September. We therefore recommend that the Committee be continued.

FRANK P. HILL, Chairman,
HORACE G. WADLIN,
CEDRIC CHIVERS.

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: Inasmuch as the report of the committee contains a recommendation, that recommendation is now before you for action. Unless there are objections, the report will be referred to the executive board for consideration of the recommendations contained therein.

Dr. HILL: Mr. President, I hope we may hear from Mr. Chivers for a moment if he is here.

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: With characteristic thoroughness Mr. Chivers has proceeded with his experiments as outlined by Dr. Hill, and we shall be very glad to hear from him at this time as to what he has found out.

Mr. CHIVERS: The report you have heard deals pretty fully with the subject, and I think the association may be congratulated upon the fact that the publishers of the more or less national newspapers, who would be required to print quite a number of copies, are willing to do it, but that is not the whole of the problem. The difficulty of bad paper and newspaper files will be felt in the future rather with local newspapers, because only a few copies would be required for filing purposes, and the printer would find special printing too troublesome and expensive.

As you have heard, there is a substance called cellit, a solution of cellulose and spirit, into which the paper may be dipped, and thoroughly saturated. The spirit quickly evaporating leaves the paper quite tough. The result is a very satisfactory paper. It is, however, practically impossible to dip so large a surface as a newspaper into this solution. The fibre when wet is too weak to handle; also the spirit in the solution quickly evaporates, leaving a glutinous mass, impracticable to deal with. We understand that oxidation of the paper resulted from the action of light, air and deleterious atmosphere. If the newspaper for filing were not allowed to be used in the reading room but were set aside on the morning of publication, kept from the light and air, and a board or weight placed upon it, and if the volume were bound directly it was complete, very little mischief would happen. Again, if the edges of the volume were frayed out and this solution of cellit, which is comparatively cheap and quite practical to use in this way, should be painted upon the edges, you would have a newspaper file which would last for a great number of years. How many, I do not know, but the chemist who accompanied me to the British Museum, in conducting the examination of newspapers under the instructions of your committee, could see no reason why the paper should not last indefinitely. We discovered there—because in the British Museum there are more newspapers brought together than in any other place in the world—that newspapers which were left lying about before binding were in a very bad condition in the course of four or five years, while newspapers which had been bound some fifteen or twenty years, of the same kind of paper, were in thoroughly good condition, proving that if you could take care of the paper and not allow it to be exposed to the air there is no reason why even bad paper should not last a very long time. The rule should be made as I have suggested it. In the British Museum there had been no rule, but the exigencies of the binding shop had been consulted, and here and there a newspaper had been bound quickly, and it was all right; and if it had been left about, as some of them were, it was all wrong. That is my practical contribution to the discussion.

Dr. BOSTWICK: I would like to ask Dr. Hill if his committee investigated the newspaper report that it is now possible, or will be shortly possible, to obtain a thin, tough metallic sheet which can be printed upon. It was reported that that had been done.

Dr. HILL: Nothing of that nature came before the committee, Mr. Chairman, but I am sure that at the next conference some publisher or some commercial house will give us that desired information. I would say for the benefit of those who are interested in this subject, and a great many of us ought to be, that there are extra copies of the first report of the committee on the table for distribution.

Dr. BOSTWICK: I would like to ask Mr. Chivers if he proposes, in applying the cellit to the edges of the sheets, to apply it to the bound volume as a whole, and whether in that case the edges of the sheets would not stick together?

Mr. CHIVERS: No. The spirit very quickly evaporates and leaves a coating upon the edge of the paper. Last year at Pasadena I was able to show the edge of a piece of paper before and after treatment, and dealt with quickly it is not glutinous in any way, and the application is perfectly successful.

Mr. BOWKER: I would like to ask Mr. Chivers if it would not be practical to dip the newspapers by some such process as is used in the development of moving picture films or kodak films. They have rollers which carry the paper quickly through the solution.

Mr. CHIVERS: That occurred to me, but, if you will remember, I said the substance is a solution in spirit, which very quickly evaporates. The rollers might get clogged up in the course of a minute or two.

Dr. ANDREWS: Has the committee ever investigated the process used by the New York State library for the restoration of its manuscripts which came so near total destruction. The result there seemed to be admirable, but the process might be too expensive.

Mr. HILL: I would say, Mr. Chairman, that the committee had two or three letters from Mr. Wyer, the director of the library, but I do not think he mentioned that. He may be able to answer the question himself.

Mr. RANCK: I would like to ask if the committee gave any consideration to the temperature and humidity of the rooms in which the newspapers were kept, as having some bearing on the life of the paper.

Mr. CHIVERS: Some attention was given to that in the British Museum. The papers are carefully kept. The temperature there does not vary as it does in America. Sometimes it is humid more or less, but it does not vary so much. It is the action, not of the humidity, but of light and air itself upon the paper which produces early decomposition.

May I say in reply to Dr. Andrews that we certainly took into consideration the covering of the newspaper with other paper or some other material, and it is altogether too expensive. The report that I was able to give of the action of cellit meets the difficulty in a better way, and for a fraction of the cost and trouble.

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: On behalf of the executive board the chair is requested to announce the appointment of the following committee on resolutions: Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites, chairman; Miss Mary W. Plummer, Mr. Judson T. Jennings.

The dainty bit of literature which appeared in connection with the first issue of the program and bulletin, bearing the signature of the president of this association, strong and persuasive as it was dainty, renders unnecessary any introduction by the present chairman to the program of this morning. The topics, as you will note, are attractive, they are in the hands of those competent to speak upon them, they grow out of the forceful keynote address at the initial meeting of this association; like the branches from a tree, they are consistent parts of the whole. We will begin by listening to MR. CARL H. MILAM, secretary of the Indiana public library commission, who will speak on

PUBLICITY FOR THE SAKE OF SUPPORT

In every community there are scores of intelligent men—men who are well-informed on most subjects—who do not know what the modern public library does, whose conception of it is what might have been expected a generation or two ago. The word "library" to them means such a collection of books as they have in their homes, or the library they used while in college. There is no thought in their minds of the aggressive, civic and educational force that we believe the American public library to be.

These men are not found in any one particular class. Business men and public officials may seem to head the list, but there are college professors and presidents, and well educated professional men who are quite as uninformed and indifferent as any others. I could point to dozens of men and women in my own state, high up in educational affairs, and some of whom are officially in close touch with libraries, who do not realize at all what place a public library can hold in community life.

Perhaps the best evidence on this proposition, if evidence is needed, is found in the recent books dealing with civic and educational affairs. In many of them the authors speak forcibly and unmistakably in favor of the public library, and exhibit a knowledge of current library practice that is gratifying to the library profession, but there are other books—not few in number—in which the writers show an entire lack of appreciation of the public library movement.

It is very easy for us to say, when such a condition is brought to mind, that it is the other fellow's fault, that there is no excuse in these days for anybody's being ignorant of the public library movement. Perhaps that is true; but, for my part, I am inclined to wonder if the fault is not with the librarians themselves. They have been so busy working out their own administrative problems that they have not taken the trouble to keep the public informed on the progress made. They have pushed the establishment of libraries—that has been comparatively easy—but they have not yet, to any very great extent, created a public sentiment that insists enthusiastically on generous appropriations.

There is need for some advertising that will take care of this situation. It might emanate from different sources: from the state and national library associations and departments working on the public generally; and from the libraries themselves, individually working on their own communities. Most of the library association publications are professional literature; most of the speeches made under the auspices of the associations are made to librarians and others already interested.

What is needed now, if my reasoning is correct, is a publicity campaign that will cover a wider range. Let its purpose be to give concrete, up-to-date information about the public library to every man and woman who reads, to every individual who is interested in any way in civic improvement or educational affairs. Surely no better way can be found of laying a foundation for liberal library appropriations.

One great need is for popular books and pamphlets on public library work. Dr. Bostwick's "The American public library," is the one available volume of this character; there is room yet for several other publications, shorter, for the most part, and dealing with special phases of library work rather than with all phases. Many people will have to read a short article or pamphlet before they will acquire sufficient interest to undertake a whole book.

The different lines of library work that offer subjects for popular treatment are many. Most of them have been written about for librarians; why can't we have them written about now for the general public? Properly printed and attractively illustrated, a series of books and pamphlets of the sort I have in mind could be used to a good advantage all over the country. Of course, a good deal of the material distributed would never be read, but the fact that little advertising booklets are widely used by business men would indicate that in the long run they do have a good effect.

Perhaps the most promising field is that of the magazines, for practically all intelligent Americans read some monthly or weekly periodical. Some would be reached by the good literary magazines, some by the so-called family magazines; others read only the trade journals, and a few only religious. All together they offer a medium of publicity that would reach nearly everybody. If we could successfully emulate the people who have pushed some of the great movements like conservation or industrial education we should soon have everybody believing that the public library is a live issue. No other movement offers better opportunities for such publicity, for there is no other institution quite so broad in its interests as the public library.

Why cannot the library associations have a publicity man whose business it would be to get such articles into the magazines, to prepare little booklets such as I have described for the information of the general public, and to do whatever else he can to interest influential men and the world at large in public libraries? This man might also be made responsible for getting library news articles and feature stories into the newspapers. Such articles would undoubtedly do a great deal to educate newspaper readers to a knowledge of library work as it now is, but if they did nothing more than to keep the subject before the people they would be worth while.

There is also a large field open for public speakers. A publicity man, representing a national or state organization, could make himself very useful as a speaker at public gatherings. He could easily secure a place on the programs of many civic, scientific and educational organizations, and by a popular presentation of the public library's service along the line that particularly interested the members, could undoubtedly make scores of new friends for public libraries.

Such a person would be welcome also as a lecturer on librarianship at college, academy and high school gatherings, at chapel and convocation exercises, etc. These talks would have a double value in that they would help to bring good people into the library profession and at the same time give information about library affairs to students and instructors.

So far as I know, the library profession has never indulged in paid newspaper or magazine advertising. This may be due to the fact that we can usually get all the space we want in the regular news columns free of charge; but I suspect it is due partly to our conservatism, to our fear that paid advertising would be considered undignified. Certainly if the newspapers and magazines are willing to print without pay all that we wish, we need not consider the paid "ad." But if it is impossible to secure the desired space in any periodical free of charge, it might be worth while to buy it.

The paid library advertisement need not be similar to the ordinary commercial advertisement. It could be modeled after the "talks" sometimes used by large corporations and promoters which are meant to create a sentiment favorable toward the company. They should be done in newspaper English and should, of course, be short and to the point. Charles Stelzle, in his "Principles of successful church advertising," says that "One denomination in the U. S. has made a selection of a group of newspapers throughout the country which print regularly an editorial on some doctrinal or ethical theme and which is paid for by the national body." If it is not undignified for a church to do these things, surely it would not be out of place for the public library.

So much for the advertising methods that might be followed by the A.L.A., the League of Library Commissions, or the various state associations and commissions. By such means the attitude of friendliness toward libraries in general would undoubtedly be fostered and an interest in their establishment and maintenance greatly increased. But the librarian of a public library could not rest on this. The proper "taste" for library expenditures—if we may so express it—in his particular town will depend largely on his particular library and his own methods of advertising.

Of course we shall all agree that the best advertisement is satisfied patrons and lots of them, and that without the backing of such patrons, the advertising will do little good; also that special work for the special classes who have most to do with tax levies and appropriations will bring good results.

Almost as important as satisfactory service is a business-like administration. The library management ought to be such that it will command the respect of business men. No amount of mere talk about the need for more money or of the wonderful advantages that will accrue to the city in case an extra thousand dollars be appropriated, will count for anything unless the librarian knows how to talk business. In fact it does not seem surprising that some libraries are poorly supported when one realizes that there are hundreds of librarians who know nothing about their library finances, who leave the money matters entirely to the library board.

Unfortunately, the librarians who are ignorant of the financial condition of their libraries, except their own salaries and the fines, are not all found in the country towns and are not all without library school training.

I know of one librarian in a city of nearly one hundred thousand population who never knows the amount of the library income, for either the current or the past year.

I know of another library, this one in a small town, that has been running for several years on a very limited income although the board has absolute power to more than double the library levy. Recently the librarian, a library school graduate, resigned, because, she said, there was no future. A few weeks later a candidate for the position met with the board to talk things over. She went armed with a p-slip full of figures. She knew the assessed valuation of the town, and the present and possible library income. She knew something about the city finances and whether the town could afford an increase for the library. She had similar figures for the adjoining townships and was prepared to tell how township support might be secured. In fact, she went to the board meeting prepared to discuss the financial possibilities of the library in a business-like way, to tell what ought to be done, how much it would cost to do it and finally, what she would take to shoulder the proposition.

Of course, she was employed. She was employed at her own salary and on her own conditions, and the board agreed to follow out her recommendations.

Such a librarian is a perpetual advertisement for the library of the very best sort. His reputation for a good business administration will win the business men, and his knowledge of city finances will win the respect of public officials and others interested in city government.

The library and the librarian also need a reputation for being interested in all civic improvement societies and other organizations that have for their business the public welfare. Agreeable professional relations with the men and women who are members of these societies will make friends for the library of the best and most active people of the city. The librarian can without difficulty, secure an invitation to address such organizations on matters pertaining to the library and if he is the right sort, he will be allowed to present his cause when he is asking for more money.

The librarian who does all these things ought not to have any great difficulty in securing the money necessary to run his library properly. It will be an added advantage, however, to keep the name of the library before the people. We ought not to be satisfied until everybody knows that there is such a thing as the public library and that it is situated at a certain place. The mere fact that a man knows a thing exists will make him approachable when the time comes to ask his support.

In order that people who do not use the library may nevertheless know something about it and be prepared to play the part of intelligent citizens when appropriations are discussed, there is need for a continuous series of newspaper articles that will tell, frankly and fully, what the library is doing. These articles should appear as news items whenever possible and should be readable. The librarian who does the largest part of the reporter's and editor's work is likely to get the best results. If the papers are accustomed to getting something from the library regularly, they will be willing to print financial reports and budgets with explanations when the time comes. If for any reason the library cannot get its items printed as news, then the same material can be used in paid "talks" to the public.

Just before time for making the appropriation, comparative statistics can be used to a good advantage, especially if graphically shown with cuts. They can show the smallness of the library income as compared with incomes of other city departments, the lack of growth in library income as compared with the growth of the city, and the appropriation for the library in question as compared with other libraries in cities of equal size.

The newspaper is the recognized medium for all sorts of local advertising. It reaches more people than any other medium and many people who could not be reached in any other way. In advertising the needs of the library, however, where only a comparatively small number of people must be reached, it seems reasonable to assume that the circular letter might accomplish good results. It should be carefully written to catch the attention, beginning with some statement in which the reader is interested, proceeding rapidly to the business in hand, and, above all things, stating clearly at the end, the exact action desired.

It is possible now to get up perfect imitations of individual typewritten letters. Such letters with the name and salutation inserted on a machine, and with personal signature, ought to bring results. Those or actual personal letters are the last word.

Any man who has in the background of his mind a knowledge of what the library stands for, a good opinion of the library based on good service and continued publicity, ought to be influenced to definite action by a good personal letter.

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: It is not given to many of us to approach a subject from so many directions as Mr. WALTER L. BROWN, librarian of the Buffalo public library, in grappling with the subject of "The breadth and limitations of bookbuying." His all-around experience will make this next paper one of exceptional value to us.

Dr. Thwaites has kindly consented to read the paper for Mr. Brown.

BREADTH AND LIMITATIONS OF BOOK BUYING

One of the first principles of public library management is that of adjusting it to the needs of its public, by whom and for whose benefit and pleasure it is supported by the municipality. Upon this proposition there has been no disagreement, as it is self-evident.

Questions of general policy arise when we attempt to decide what is beneficial and what is detrimental, just how far we may go to supply books for special and limited use, and just how far we may respond to the popular taste in the demand for the expenditure of public funds for pleasure.

The breadth and limitation of book buying should be determined by the needs of the public rather than from the ratings of the books which are being published. We should find the books that are best fitted for the people who are to use them, rather than to try to fit the people to the books which we may consider as the most desirable. The questions so often raised as to the admittance to the library shelves of some books of fiction of doubtful morals or the latest piece of erotic literature seem very trivial when we consider the problems that face us in the broad field of library work. The library is a public enterprise for public good, and not merely a coöperative scheme for the purpose of obtaining cheap reading, nor a bibliographical storehouse. The important question is whether the books we are asked to buy will serve any legitimate end of library service.

Most of our American cities resemble each other in the exceedingly complex character of their population, each of whose varied elements has more or less claim on the services of the public library. While it is not possible to classify definitely the residents of a city for library purposes, there are certain large groups which we may recognize.

In the first place, the public library has to serve, as libraries of all times have served, those who have had all the advantages of systematic education—those in the learned professions and in other walks of life who have had given to them, through college and university training, a wider vision than that of the average citizen; those who have had given to them at least the knowledge of the existence of the store of accumulated thought and of the records of the past. Upon these more fortunate ones rests the responsibility, in a large measure, of carrying the torch of knowledge and civilization a little farther with each generation. The public library does not pretend to act as a guide to this part of the community, but it must serve as its laboratory and as its source of supply.

A second group which includes a large part of our population is made up of those who have had the advantage of the full course of the grammar school, with the smaller number who have had that of the high school. From this group come not only the clerks in our stores and offices, but men in the more skilled occupations, and also many business men and employers of labor. Some of these are existing through gray, narrow, uneventful, toilsome lives, while others take a large and leading part in all that concerns the life of the community and in the moulding of public opinion. It includes men of many creeds and civilizations, prejudices, desires and ambitions; of many degrees of culture and taste, high and low; influenced by very different inheritance, associations and opportunities.

Some gain through application most of the advantages of the best training, while others not only fail to make use of, but often practically lose the education the city has given them. For the larger number of this group there are great possibilities for good in the means of education and cultivation which are now being provided by the municipality.

How may the public library best meet the needs of these people, so many and so diverse? How may it give to those who lack it that which will enliven, improve, stimulate and cultivate, creating not only the desire for what is best in life, but supplying the essence so far as it may be gained from the stimulus and inspiration of books? How may we give others the practical knowledge that is needed by them in their varied occupations and activities?

Probably the most potential group in our cities is that large one made up of the children of the immigrants. If they can be lifted by education, if their taste can be guided and directed toward better desires, the help which the library is able to give will act as a tremendous force for good. If these children are left alone to indulge in what is vicious and demoralizing in the life of the crowded sections of the cities, they will become a menace to the municipal life. Their parents have little to give them. The schools have on an average a brief five years in which to influence these children, but they do send them out with the power to read English. The public library may exert its influence not only during their school life, but if it acquires a hold upon them at that time, it will continue to be an influence for good upon these future rulers of the city.

Is it not possible, in a small way at least, to cultivate their taste and give them some desire to read what is worth while?

The broad base upon which city life rests is still another group made up usually of the newcomers from many lands. A very large number have little or no education excepting such as their toil has brought them. Many are able to read their native tongue, but all their traditions and all their lore is that of other lands and literatures. We find that many of the more intelligent among them have brought, in addition to their muscular strength, much that might enrich their adopted country if it could find means of expression. They constitute a danger in our life only when lacking the knowledge of our tongue, our ways and our ideals, and when in ignorance of the adjustment of our government by the popular will, they become the prey of the demagogue. He easily gains a blind following among the ignorant by preaching class hatred and a kind of discontent which is unrighteous.

Library work among these people should not only act as a safeguard, but may prove an opportunity for some at least to attain a broader life by awakening the desire for knowledge and the ability to grow which comes with the reading habit and the knowing how to use books.

The public library has not only to carry out its mission to the individuals of these groups as its part in social advancement, but it has to coöperate in the work of betterment with the schools, and with clubs and "movements" and with all manner of philanthropic and social endeavor.

There is no lack of appreciation of this function of the public library and we need not emphasize it any more than the service which it renders promptly and liberally to the scholars and other leaders of the mental life of the community. If we should fail to recognize our duty in either respect, objection would be promptly expressed.

The real value of a public library as a municipal institution can be best measured by its service toward building up a more intelligent, hopeful and happier citizenship.

It is possible to help the immigrant through the writers of his native tongue which bring him pleasure and pastime. We may even now help him in his material progress in his new home by giving him elementary books in English, from which he may acquire some knowledge of American institutions and American life, and the time may come when we will be able to do far more with great effect by having American books translated into other tongues for this purpose.

We need to help by far the greater proportion of foreigners to acquire English, because it is a tool which all must have in this country for intelligent bread-winning purposes. We need to study the race history of those represented in the population, and we should know something of their conditions before coming to America; something of their education and their mental development. Many sections of our large cities have different problems in the amalgamation of the population and the library should do what it can to help solve them.

A library agency in the neighborhood of these newcomers is a center of real service and helpfulness. No work shows more definite results, or is appreciated more than that which we do among the immigrants and their children, who are often used as go-betweens by the parents and the library.

While there are many agencies at work upon the children of the immigrant, the library has a very important place and much responsibility. No matter what the other demands may be, we cannot afford to neglect these children, and we must make generous provision to get them interested in good books through the schools and the library.

Between the immigrants and their children at one extreme, and the educational institutions and the scholar at the other, there is that very large group of the community made up of the more or less educated people, concerning whose needs and desires most of the questions on bookbuying are raised. This is a reading group. A certain part of it consumes tons and tons of newspapers and cheap magazines, the very names of which are strange in libraries. This is the reading—perhaps the only reading—of many of them, and we find that they go to the newspapers for the stirring and morbid records of crime, for scandal, for gambling news and other sensational matter, and they are reading the magazines for stories of much the same character.

Such readers crave excitement; they seldom read a book for pleasure, and they have never used the printed page for the purpose of obtaining information since their school days. It seems vital that the public library should find some meeting place with this section of the community. The plane of the cultivated reader has no temptation whatever. One must get down to earth to start growth, and the danger of bending down is far less than that of keeping aloof by reason of too high a standard. It is possible to do this without wholly giving up our demand for good quality, and we may find popular books free from vulgarity and from any pernicious influence, which, if properly used, may create a zest for better books when they are offered.

In selecting books of different grades for the purpose of leading readers from the poorer books to the better, we do, of course, put before the readers of the better books a selection of descending quality. Fortunately, however, there is little danger in this, for there is a safeguard in the fact that a taste for the better books carries with it a dislike to those of inferior quality.

It is well to remember also that even the lightest fiction selected by the library is free from most of the objectionable qualities of the reading indulged in by many readers whom we hope to reach.

As we advance in the scale of our readers, the demands upon the library increase. More and more the library is becoming of commercial use. Not only men of the various industries are finding use for the recorded experiences and the advice of experts in their own lines, but business men are beginning to find great possibilities in the use of books as time-savers and as a help to efficiency. The use of the book as a tool is becoming constantly greater, and the public library, as a matter of course, is to supply all books which may be so used. It is the plain duty of the public library to make known its ability to help its community in these practical ways.

It would seem that wise book buying would result more often through a study of the city rather than from the searching of book catalogs. The public library perhaps more than any other educational institution may receive help from social surveys, social engineering, and the records of commercial organizations.

If a social survey has not been made of our city, we should at least ascertain the elements which go to make up its population. Let us know the types of people to be reached and their numbers. How many Americans of native stock? How many residents of foreign birth? How many children of foreign born parents? What are the races represented—English speaking, Germanic, Slavic, Latin, etc.? What are the social and economic conditions? What are their occupations? What of their education and æsthetic development? These are pertinent questions for the library.

Then let a search be made for the most attractive books for each group, always remembering that there is a place for sound, clear, elementary books on all subjects, and that these should be duplicated freely. Let the business of the community be analyzed. Are there textile, steel or wood industries? What manufacturing is done, and what raw materials are used? What of its markets? What of its transportation? What authoritative material may we find on all these subjects, and how may we make it of valuable use? What is being done in our city for the fine arts; for natural science; for the study of literature; for religious and ethical teaching? How may we coöperate in all this work by supplying the necessary books? Let there be a thorough understanding of how and where good books may be used, and then let us consider the breadth and limitation of our book buying.

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: One is tempted to linger over the flavor which has been given to the wording of the next topic, "The open door, through the book and the library; opportunity for comparison and choice; unhampered freedom of choice," and if we do not linger longer on this it is because we know that that flavor will be made permanent after listening to the address itself of the speaker, Mr. CHARLES E. McLENEGAN, librarian of the Milwaukee public library.

THE OPEN DOOR, THROUGH THE BOOK AND THE LIBRARY; OPPORTUNITY FOR COMPARISON AND CHOICE; UNHAMPERED FREEDOM OF CHOICE

A professor in one of our large universities recently complained that college students of the present day are so woefully ignorant of many things that they could reasonably be expected to know. The exciting cause of the professor's outburst was an attempt to get from his class some information about Chanticleer. He was met by conservative and judicious silence until one youth, who was not quite sure, ventured the opinion that it was a popular song sung by Jane Addams. Of course such an answer would irritate a Chicago man, and justly too, when we consider that Miss Addams is what made Chicago famous.

But the wail of the professor provokes the question: Where do all the scholars and thinkers of the world come from? What keeps up the breed? What is it that fills in the ramshackle, ill-jointed, unpromising frame of much of our school product, and returns us so much of fine manhood and womanhood, and so much of the sound learning and ability of the working world? We must, I think, admit that the world is fairly furnished with men and women, intelligent and useful, whom no college can claim. And every college has its quota of dunces who may never be anything else. My professor made no discovery of an alarming decadence, for what he complains of has always been true. We should not be pessimistic about youth, and we must be fair to our schools. They make better what we send them, but they have no science of alchemy. Many men and women find their inspiration in schools. But after the largest measure of allowance, it will be conceded that the amount of scholarship and efficiency in the world far exceeds the output of our scholastic plants. There are more of such people than schools produce, and the surplus must be accounted for in some other way. This surplus comes, somehow, from that vast throng who are, in a sense, the forgotten children of modern education—those hundreds of thousands who fall out of the ranks in school days, and yet who persist and find themselves without the help of the schools. It is very fortunate that this is so, for otherwise we might have to abandon some of our weightiest political maxims. The world is governed by proverbs, but as a rule of action, a proverb is as dangerous as dynamite. It is as useful as a club in a political campaign. But Dr. Holmes was right: proverbs should be sold in pairs so that one may correct the other as a counter irritant.

One of the most venerable and mossy of these narcotic saws is that our school systems are the bulwark of democracy. Undoubtedly presidents could be elected on this platform alone, if you could find an opposing party foolish enough to deny it. Yet schools can be the bulwark of democracy only by a confusion of terms, by which we mean that education and intelligence are the bulwarks of democracy. This we may grant; but we are now speaking of something besides the three R's and things that children learn in school. By education and intelligence, we mean the resultant of many forces acting on one point. We may readily admit that democracies like ours have only intelligence with which to oppose the powers that tend to gather at the center or to fly off the circumference.

It seems to me that what we call the education of our schools is a very imperfect instrument for the work it is supposed to do. What do we say first to that fifty per cent of the population who drop out of grammar schools with only the most elementary and inadequate knowledge of the three R's? What has the school given them with which to fight the battles of democracy? It is not only the spur of necessity which drives youth to labor so early. That is undoubtedly one cause. There are also the profound weariness and distaste which come of forever seeking from the text-book page, from the teacher's voice, and from the gradgrind drill for something to awaken the mind where the mind has no interest. Germany has been the first to see this failure of the common school to equip the majority; the killing effect of one sort of training for every type of mind. Witness the system of continuation schools for those who find themselves after beginning the bread and butter work of life. Witness the compulsion of the employer to devote part of the apprentice time to special instruction in the chosen craft. Even the unused moments of garrison life in the army are not wasted. Everywhere the progress of Germany is prolonging the school day in the discovery of aptitude, and in the cultivation of it after it has been discovered. In our English-speaking world we are trying to find the same thing in our trade schools, in our manual training, in our vocational education, in the many things which we perhaps hastily call fads in education. They all indicate a reaching after something which is not now attained; a search for an awakening influence on minds that are now dormant; for something to light the inward eye. In all there is the implication of a need which has not been met. These things are the evidence that the diet of public education is not varied enough to nourish all the children of the commonwealth, to awaken the dormant power for SOME THING that lies somewhere in most of humanity.

"The hungry sheep look up and are not fed."

Public education has given long and careful thought to those who remain in school. It is just becoming conscious of the great majority who do not remain—the great majority whom necessity, choice, or lack of adaptation of the school to the child drive yearly into the rough school of life. At present the best that schools do for these is to provide each child with the means of self education—the ability to read. But we are to remember that this is only one of the instruments of education; it is not education itself. It is no discovery, and it needs little observation to point out, that with this instrument of reading, the newspaper, the magazine and the book are the potent educators of our day. They are, or should be, the bulwark of democracy. I am not concerned to discuss this further than to show that what we have vaguely depended solely upon our schools to do, is not done by them, and never has been done by them. For the great mass, our schools give each child the one open sesame—reading. There they leave him to open what doors he can and will.

Before I suffer as a heretic, let me quote a really thoughtful man, Thomas Carlyle, called by a breezy miss in our last civil service examination "the great English apostle of hope." You remember that, in speaking of the origin of universities, Carlyle in his Heroes said, "If we think of it, all that a university or final highest school can do for us is still but what the first school began doing—teach us to read. The place where we are to get knowledge is the books themselves. It depends on what we read after all manner of professors have done their best for us. The true university of these days is a collection of books." Possibly there is a little something "proverbial" about this, and perhaps it should be mixed with a trifle of Mark Hopkins on the end of a log. But a collection of books, be it large or small, is a library. That definition still holds, though we may have to include "skittles and beer" after awhile. It is quite clear that this aspect of a library as a distinct and active factor in education has only of late impressed itself upon the public mind. It marks the library as a vitalized public utility, from which we are to expect more than has yet been received. Even the best of schools has its limitations because of the inflexibility of its courses of study, and it may fail, often does fail, to touch with any spark of living fire. But the library may provide something for every type of mind. The library cannot create mind or the will and disposition to use it, any more than the school can. But where the desire to feed any mental craving exists, it would be a very poor library indeed that cannot satisfy it in some degree. This power of the right book to supplement the school, or even to take the place of it, is not yet comprehended in any fullness in our public education. But it is just in this power of the book that a library has one of its best reasons for being, and it is for this reason that, when the library comes into its own, it will be a most important factor in education. Let us see to it that one door is kept open for those who discover themselves after school days are gone. There are thousands who fail to grasp their opportunities in the way and at the time that schools prescribe that they should. Some of these find themselves by living, by working, by accident it may be, or by any of the infinite ways in which humanity adjusts itself to its surroundings. For them the library is a path into fields of learning, into avenues of power that make all things possible. Here is the college of our self-educated man. There is no mystery about it. It is the natural result of following the inward light. We know that the better part of education is what we give ourselves.

One should not use a single instance to prove a principle. It is not merely bad logic; it is not logic. Yet the fact that everyone who deals either with people or with books knows many such cases shows that the experience is universal. One day not long ago, as I sat alone in the office, a lad came in. "Mister, do you buy the books here?" I admitted complicity. "Will you buy one that I want?" I asked what it was. "Chickens." To cut the story short, I asked him to sit down and we talked about chickens, for I am something of a farmer. I found that he had read everything in the library on poultry and was hungry for more. He knew the hen intimately. He had mastered the genealogy, the sociology, the psychology, and the "Why" of hens. Furthermore, while he was doing time in school, he was also carrying on a successful chicken business on a city lot, from which business he had wrung two thousand hard dollars, which he had safely in the bank. He had already marked down a little farm near the city which would be his as soon as he had "completed his education" in the grammar school, and then he would make the feathers fly. I am glad to say he got his book, and I added another lesson to the many my boys have taught me.

What is our concern with this lad? He is a type of what I have in mind. I do not value him for his ability to make money. Men make money who aren't worth a cent. I measure him by his value as a producer, by his value to humanity as an example, and by his value to a library as a walking delegate for free and unrestricted choice in books. He is an educated man, joyfully occupied in something which engages every faculty of his mind, which he loves, understands, and has mastered for himself. Your country and mine will be the better the more they can grow of that sort of man. He has made good; he has arrived. And to arrive somewhere, under your own steam, is a great thing in life. You might not get the answer you were looking for, but you could not get a foolish answer, if you asked him of Chanticleer.

Lest I be misunderstood, I repeat for a moment. Schools must be systematized. They must follow a course of study. Unhappily, what is called economy dictates that the young must be herded together in droves, graded by their ability to do one or two things into groups of presumptively equal power, equal ability to comprehend and to labor, and of similar tastes. It is the best that modern education has been able to do in the schools. Yet every one of these presumptions of equality is false. In spite of the Declaration of Independence, no two people on earth are equal except in their right to live, move and have their being. But on this educational bed of Procrustes each soul of our Anglo-Saxon race lays him down to pleasant dreams. Alas for him whose mental legs are too long, or too short, to fit the couch! Dreams? For some they are nightmares! Just because of this narrowness of public education, because of its inability to touch all types of mind, we have that endless procession, out and ever out, from our schools.

It is not my wish to take a hopeless view of education. There is no reason for taking such a view. I wish merely to emphasize a fact which has always been true, but a fact of which we are just becoming conscious. The problem of education in the days that are coming is to adjust our machinery so that these lost products shall be lessened. In this readjustment the library will have its place as a recognized and systematic factor in "the greatest business of the state."

The open door through the library and the book has a pleasant sound. Yet probably the most surprising fact in actual experience is the helplessness of even intelligent people in using books. The address of Prof. Chamberlain, delivered before this association a year ago, did not overstate the case of the schools. But schools are beginning to meet the issue, and in time they will remedy the conditions for those who are fortunate enough to remain in schools. But always for us will remain that contingent who drop out of school, in days before the school can reach them with this gospel of the book. The school has lost them, and, if ever they find the open door through the book, it will be by chance, or because the library itself opens the door. It rests with us to proclaim our mission to them. Of course every good library has always taught those insistent ones who knocked at its doors. But the library has been a passive agent of this education, not an active one. A public library, in my judgment, should be equipped with the necessary apparatus to conduct this work systematically, to propagate its own use, to spread the gospel of the open door among the people whom it serves. If this seems a violent innovation, I beg you to consider it from the schoolmaster's point of view, as well as from the librarian's. Here is a great body of people in every community whom other agencies have taught to read, who depend upon reading to return service to the state and to promote their own welfare. On the other side, the library, with the admitted duty of furthering education through the book. Does it not rest with the library to teach persistently, systematically, and by every practicable means, how and where to find what to read? The means of doing this is another matter, but for the expediency of it, and the need of it, examine in any considerable community, the roster of the great correspondence schools, and reflect how many people are groping their way out of darkness toward the light. What people pay for, as they do for this instruction, they want; and what these learners get for their money, they should have for nothing in any public library. When we teach how and where to find what to read, the open door through the library and the book will have some meaning for every man, woman and child who can simply read. All the artificial barriers that stand between the reader and his book will go; the barrier in the book itself will largely be removed, and the library will reach through intelligent choice many of those who are counted down and out by the schools: the thoughtful man who has come to realize the possibilities of his work: the one who has waited long to find his aptitude; the timid; the hesitant; the shy and distrustful; the misunderstood; those who see the "dawn of a tomorrow." The procession is endless, and each has his human need, which runs the gamut from utility to the highest joys of life. We talk so much about the struggle for existence that we forget that the best thing in life is just to live. Not all reading is for material profit; some of it is for happiness, and that happiness is purest and most complete which we find for ourselves. It is the discovery of one's own light that brings the abiding joy. What man or woman cannot look back to the inspiration of some finding of his own for which he owes no one but his Creator? These are the finest moments of life.

"Then felt I like some watcher of the skies,
When a new planet swims into his ken."

So said Keats upon first looking into Chapman's Homer. To express the rapture of the poet is given only to the poet. But the pure joy of finding for ourselves some of the true and beautiful with which we are in harmony, is reward enough. Whether we look upon our library as a source of recreation, of happiness or profit (and it is all of these) this army, who have fallen out of the ranks in the onward march of education in the school, seem to be our especial wards. To open the door through the book for them is a work worth doing, not as a means of salvation, but as a means of sowing more efficiency and more happiness among men. Ours is not the schoolmaster's task of teaching things: it is the nobler task of showing humanity how to teach itself.

And, while we speak of missions, the library need not take itself too seriously. The world is not looking to us for the salvation of mankind. When all is done that can be done, there will still be those who will not read, and who will follow the primrose path after their natures. There are many agencies in life that work for good and the library is one, not the only one. Our field is clear-cut and well-defined—to extend the use of books. There seems to be a sort of nervous notion abroad that one of the chief ends of libraries is to draw a crowd and put a nice book into every hand. I do not know about all these enrichments of our libraries as I read of them. Have books any compelling power over those who merely come into their presence, unless such people love the books or at least wish to read them? Of this I have no doubt: There are enough who care to use our libraries, if we can take away that helpless bewilderment which overcomes those who are cast adrift, without rudder or compass, upon a sea of books. Teach them the ways in which books may be made to yield their treasures. Open that door in youth if possible, and it will be the best possession which youth carries into manhood. But open it sometime, for the real harvest time is when he who wishes to read, reads what he wants. It might be more soul-satisfying to me to hand out to my chicken boy books that minister to more attenuated needs—but what about the boy? Is he not better that he finds for himself in the book what feeds his mind? The glory and power of the library is that he who can merely read, may there find what the in-dwelling spirit asks for. It is good that there should be one place in education where there is no brimstone and treacle, no Mr. Squeers, and no Smikes. "For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as the soul whose progeny they are."

The FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: A curiosity which has existed since libraries were first started is about to be gratified. We are to get the answer to the question, "What do the people want?" from MISS JESSIE WELLES, of the Carnegie library of Pittsburgh.

WHAT DO THE PEOPLE WANT?[3]

If we are to believe the voices in the air the people want some big things, for it is a notable fact that the things most loudly demanded are wanted by a few people for all the people. The socialistic group wants a coöperative industrial system for everybody, another familiar group in no uncertain voice demands votes for all, whether we want them or not, and there is a third group to which our president has referred, the members of which think that they see in universal education a panacea for the ills of state and society. Of this group all librarians must be at least ex-officio members while librarians in public libraries must work definitely toward the end which it avows.

[3] Abstract.

How are we doing this? It will not serve to take refuge back of the statement that our only hope for universal education is with the child. We have a duty toward the adult as well as toward the child, and our aim must be not to get people to read books but to get all the people to read the right books, the books best adapted for their individual development.

Are we supplying the right books? For book selection, a well nigh perfect technique has been established, but is technique enough? Knowledge of books and of technique are imperative but the librarian who supplies the right books to all the people must know and understand his fellowmen.

Who are the people whom we are to serve? Do we perchance throw them into one great group and call them the public as distinguished from librarians? Who are we but "the public" to the actor, the artist, the man in the railway office? No, a wise providence has endowed men with a great variety of characters and temperaments, and when environment has further complicated matters, we must try to understand them all. For our present purpose let us group the people on the basis of a taste for knowledge.

Some people are born with a thirst for knowledge, some acquire a taste for it through early training and environment and some must have knowledge thrust upon them if they are to have it at all. Of book selection for the educated in any of these groups this paper does not deal. The subject has been discussed often and well, and while we have by no means reached the point where we no longer need to study how to serve them, the question is not a gravely puzzling one.

The elimination of the educated brings us down to a study of book selection for the under-educated and the indifferent in the interest of universal education for the benefit of state and society.

Some of these uneducated ones may be found in each of the three groups. Many from the first two groups come to our libraries and should be served thoughtfully and wisely. In many cases the only indication of a thirst for knowledge is an omnivorous appetite for exceedingly poor novels. If they have already devoured many, their taste is probably hopelessly perverted and about all we can hope to do is to hold their interest and eliminate the yellow horror with its debilitating influence by supplying free, easily accessible books of even the lightest grade found upon our library shelves. This is a very slight advance, but it is a step forward. Others of this class if "caught young" can be interested in better literature, and are worthy of our careful thought and the wisest service.

There come also to libraries many in whom the real desire to know is awake but still rubbing its eyes. They must not be confused with that class of people, difficult to deal with in every sphere, who seek to appear wiser than they are, and some personal knowledge of the individual is imperative in order to avoid this mistake. They usually ask for assistance in book selection and great care should be taken in giving it, as it serves well the future of our race to help one of these "derive education," as one such borrower has expressed it.

And now we come to the most difficult group of all, those who must have knowledge thrust upon them if they are to have it at all. These do not come to our libraries, but we go out to them by means of various forms of extension work. We are inclined to take this branch of work lightly, but it is full of potential good for the commonwealth. Here we have the citizen at our mercy, why not see what we can do with him to help the cause of universal education?

Extension work can be carried on with a small staff, but every worker should be of the best, strong in knowledge of books and of human nature. The book selection for these smaller centers can be based upon some personal knowledge of the individual, and the collection may be made a powerful educational tool. The individual can best be reached through his personal tastes, for the developing of which he does not dream that books exist.

This personal work must be devoid of sentimentality. The worker's motive must be a desire for fair play, and he must not approach the people in a missionary spirit. They do not want to be uplifted by a missionary nor surveyed by a social worker. The only spirit in which we can study their needs is the spirit of good fellowship, with the honest desire to share with others what we ourselves enjoy. We can reach only a few of the people who need help most and books can give then only a small part of the awakening and training and broadening that the state desires for them, but our effort should not be gauged by what we can accomplish. We have to thank previous generations for many benefits which result from their aiming high above their power of achievement, and if by personal study of the under-educated we can raise the standard of their reading in the slightest degree, the general standard of intelligence of the next generation will advance in the same ratio, and this the state finds worth while.

After this paper the session adjourned.

THIRD GENERAL SESSION

(Russell Theatre, Saturday, June 29, 9:30 a. m.)

Joint session with the Professional training section. Mr. James I. Wyer, Jr., director of the New York state library, and ex-president of the A. L. A., occupied the chair.

The CHAIRMAN: Your temporary chairman for the morning has but one compunction in accepting this pleasant privilege, and that is that it inevitably deprives you of the gracious presence of your rightful presiding officer, even though it be only for a few minutes.

Miss MARY E. HAZELTINE, preceptor of the University of Wisconsin library school, will speak to us on

THE ASSISTANT AND THE BOOK

The library movement is no longer a crusade, it is a movement of peaceful education. In truth, the library movement is not a movement at all, it is an achievement. The library has come to be a center of personal interest. People, one by one, are the object of our labors. They are to be brought, through the personalities of those who preside over books, into touch with the personalities that dwell within books.

There are many militant movements today, those for universal peace (strange paradox), equal suffrage, labor reform, and for human betterment in crowded cities—great social movements that are being promoted through the vigorous propaganda and the emphatic zeal of their leaders. Over against these dynamic social movements, the library operates as a quiet force, at once personal, intellectual, educational, persuasive but powerful, studying community interests, serving community needs it is true, but accomplishing the work through the individual. These other movements will, after their first victories are won, likewise take on an educational aspect, but they will become strong and far-reaching only as people are touched and served by them.

No cause can be greater than the personality which interprets it. It matters little how proud the ideals of the leaders, or how great the possibilities of the work itself, nothing can really be accomplished except through the vision, ability, and knowledge of those who have actual contact with the public. Technique and method in library work are of less importance than the personality of the assistant, his preparation for the work, his continued renewing of himself in interest and knowledge, his immediate contact with affairs of the day, and his ability to share his interest and information with others.

If this be true, behind the library must lie a personal force. This must be secured, first, through the personality of those who labor within its walls; then, through the personalities of the books themselves that are ready if permitted, to answer every human need. The vital connection between these depends upon the person that can stimulate a love of books, or arouse a feeling for their need. Are our libraries today manned by such assistants?

The plain matter of fact is that we are still over-technical. For petty details in devotion to routine and technique, we crucify personality; we kill the love of books among our library workers, for there is no time to read, no opportunity to make or keep a real acquaintance with books. Schemes to induce others to read are constantly being devised, red tape is ever being wound around our system of details, professional duties are allowed almost brutally to shut us out from contact with the best in literature. There are too many meetings to attend; too many papers to write; have you ever been obliged to forego an open-air performance of Electra at your very door that would have brought interpretation and understanding, because you had to rival Euripides and prepare a paper for the American Library Association? Librarians, alas, take their work too seriously, and too painfully do their duty.

"For each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word."

The librarian of the older days was a crabbed and positively forbidding guardian of books. Then for a period of years—and there are traces of this time still with us,—the library worker had the attitude of the clerk, so important seemed the details of library service. Now we are approaching the time when the librarian shares in the spirit of the social worker. The one big blessed thing that we all want to do (and we are all assistants to the public) is to get people to love the human messages in books, for "Books are not dead things and do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul whose progeny they were." The only way to do this is to make sure that the person who deals with the public knows books—is fairly radiant with book lore. He should not be a rapt scholar absorbed in his own research, nor on the other hand a spiritless, lifeless, or flippant clerk.

Within a decade there has come a change in the tenor of most library reports, most noticeable within the last five years. The emphasis is now largely on the myriad things that are done for the public which require a knowledge of books and the ability to use them for people. This new library service can only be carried forward by assistants who know both books and people. The library assistant is now rapidly becoming a constructive social worker and has the most potent spiritual forces of all the ages at his command.

But in addition to personality there must be education. This is a primary requisite for an assistant. Nothing can supply the lack of knowledge. Where nothing is, nothing results. It is evident that our libraries are recognizing educated assistants.

Mr. Anderson H. Hopkins in his report to the Board of trustees of the Carnegie library of Pittsburgh, said in 1908:

"Near the beginning of the report appears a statement of the names of members of the staff, in an arrangement showing the positions that they occupy. I have long felt that this is not adequate, although it is in accord with the custom of large public libraries in this country. A number of the members of our staff have not only academic degrees, but also degrees or certificates from professional schools, and I believe it would be a good plan for us to set these forth in our statement, as is commonly done in the calendars of colleges. There can be no question that the work done by the staff compares favorably with that done by any similar professional body and I believe that it would be well to take this step in recognition of the fact."

In the report of the Cleveland public library for 1909 this statement is made:

"An analysis of the preparation of the various members of the staff for their work gives this interesting showing: college graduates, 47; partial college courses, 24; library school graduates, 46."

From the report of the Boston public library for 1909 the following is quoted:

"Three grades of educational qualifications are required. The lowest grade, which includes a comparatively small number of pages, sub-assistants, etc., requires a training equivalent to a grammar school course. The middle grade requires qualifications equivalent to a high school training and familiarity with one foreign language. The third grade, including seventy-seven of these persons, requires qualifications equivalent to those obtained by a college course, and familiarity with two foreign languages. The proper cataloging and classifying of books and the reference work necessary to aid those using the library also requires in many positions much higher qualifications than those which could be obtained by the ordinary college course."

Libraries should secure more assistants with academic training, whose minds have come in contact with the many subjects that reveal the past and interpret the present. We must rely on the colleges for the production of such assistants, that they shall come to us already knowing the sweep of literature on the library shelves, already loving books and knowledge, and filled with their power. Such workers can not help radiating a passion for books. They will make the library a living institution, a center of glowing personality. Of some it can be said:

"Who reads and reads and does not what he knows,
Is one that plows and plows and never sows."

It can never be said of the college bred assistant who has been fired with the message of books that he is such an one, but rather, he will sow day in and out that priceless seed of the love of books in the living soil of human hearts. Because such workers have seen the vision, have walked in its light, they will continue to make books a part of their daily living, never losing the habit of systematic reading, despite the routine and immediate demands of the library.

We have said that the responsibility for supplying this knowledge and love of books a part of their daily living, never answer, however, that they cannot bring to their students in four years this literary culture if they do not come to college with some previous acquaintance with books; and that, if the student must study all the practical, social, utilitarian, and commercially valuable things demanded today, the reading of books is crowded out. Is not then, the responsibility for awakening the love of books for their own sake thrown back upon libraries, and upon the book knowledge of those that serve within their walls? Our book service, of which we have been boasting for many years, ought surely by this time to show results among those whom we have been serving. If the colleges claim that there are few among their students who have any real knowledge of books, should not we count the failure partly ours?

And what is the reason? The assistant who has given the book to the growing boy or girl has done it mechanically, has done it as a clerk has done it without knowledge of its message, and as a result has failed to arouse a love of books, a love of reading. The failure is in the library assistant. We have substituted for training in book values, for appreciation of their literary content, for knowledge of their true worth among assistants a mechanical skill in the handling of books.

The trained assistant must ever keep alert in himself the spirit of knowledge that is in him. In this same spirit and by this same habit, the reading of trained members of the staff must become a contagion and quicken the love of books in the untrained. The library looks then to the trained assistant to come with a knowledge and love of books that shall be retained as his birthright, and used as a talent not hid in a napkin.

Library assistants cannot all be college bred. Many library workers are recruited locally, among those for whom the library itself has been a university. These make up a large body of the assistants who fill important positions in all types of libraries. For their book knowledge and love of learning the colleges cannot be held responsible. The end desired must be secured by the library itself. First, by choosing for an assistant today one who has appreciated the environment of books; second, by encouraging and aiding him to a fuller knowledge of books through systematic reading; third, by creating an atmosphere of books in which future assistants may grow up.

To the average assistant who feels her importance because she is working in a library, librarianship means an ability to do things with the hand, rather than with head and heart. Many seek a library position because they think it involves only neat and easy work, having in mind the purely mechanical and technical side, without a thought of its meaning and strength. The line should be drawn very sharply between those who know books, can think about them, and who can express the reason that is within them about their values, and those who only know their outside, their mechanical care, and the keeping of their records. So we find the responsibility for the book shortcomings of even our best educated assistants at our own door.

It is said that librarians do not know the great life interests, the pervading charm of music, the thraldom of art, the abiding realities of religion, the solace of the out-of-doors; have never sensed the author's heart-throbs which have gone into the books they lightly handle, or gloried in the transcendent mysteries which lie in poetry. How many library assistants really do read books for the joy of it? In how many has this joy been killed; in how many has it never been created? For these is not the library responsible?

Some libraries are already seriously caring for the training of their assistants. In the large city libraries positions are filled chiefly from the training class conducted by the library itself where a graded service has been established and promotion depends upon examination. But much of this training, like all library training, is of necessity technical and professional, rather than cultural. Many libraries further report staff meetings for general discussion of library matters, while a few report such meetings for the general book knowledge of the staff.

From the Dayton, Ohio, public library the report comes that monthly staff meetings have been held since January, 1908, for various stated library purposes, and that the members contribute anything of interest from personal reading which would be suggestive to other members for their own reading, or helpful to them in dealing with the public. Library time is allowed for these meetings.

In 1906, Mr. Dana reported that members of the staff met once a week to discuss library matters in general and to have a report by one of the class on the literature of some assigned subject. Among the subjects reported on were, photography, history of literature, French revolution, French history, travel in Japan, opera, etc.

In 1907, Mr. Brown, of the Buffalo public library reports:

"We have done more staff training this year than was possible before. Round tables are now held in nearly every department, at which methods and books are discussed. To this we can trace habits of greater carefulness and accuracy, a more comprehensive view of the work as a whole, and happier, better service."

In 1908, the report says:

"The staff round tables—'the part of our work which keeps us keen and alive' as one member expresses it—have been held as usual. At these meetings methods of work and books are discussed and frank talks upon the best means of helping borrowers are given; but the spirit of sympathy and comradeship which results from meeting together as library workers and talking over the work, its purpose and ideals, is really the most valuable and important result of these meetings."

From Cedar Rapids, 1905, comes the report:

"A meeting of the staff has been held on Thursday mornings for the discussion of current events and library problems." In 1908: "The Thursday morning hour has been given to the reading aloud of poems suggested in Dawson's 'Makers of English poetry.' Some time was devoted to Browning and Milton. New books were discussed and current events were considered." In 1909: "The staff has taken up the study of Brander Matthews' 'Development of the drama,' and has read several of the Greek tragedies. Current events and new books were also discussed." In 1910: "The weekly staff meetings have been continued and are most helpful."

The Cleveland report for 1910 says:

"The staff round table continues to meet; this year, more than ever, emphasis has been laid upon a broader and less superficial knowledge of books on the part of the staff, and it is believed that some progress has been made in this direction. * * * All this shows a flexibility of mind on the part of our staff which has made them grow with their work. There has also been the ability of the older members to train and inspire younger and newer assistants."

Constant study is required among those who have attained academic distinction, evidenced in advanced degrees, in record of profound research, in contributions to learned societies and journals, and in published monographs and books. Even teachers in the grades must pass examinations to hold their positions, and excel in order to secure promotion. No one employs a physician who does not keep abreast of scientific and medical discoveries by graduate courses or private study; few listen long to a preacher who does not keep in touch with the spirit of the times. Can it be that the library profession is the only one in which a systematic progression is not generally demanded?

A definite amount of reading should be required of all library assistants. They must not be allowed to stagnate, nor to think that because they live in an atmosphere of books they are exempt from reading. There should be on the part of the librarian a keener feeling of responsibility for his assistants and for their growth in the knowledge and love of books. Whether this shall be brought about through organized classes, whether it shall be through weekly reading with required reports, or whether it shall be through the subtle influence of the librarian's personality and love of books which inspires him; or whether it shall be a combination of all these, remains to be worked out by each local institution,—but worked out it must be, unless with our boasted free books, we are to become the by-word and the laughing stock of future generations.

We all acknowledge that the assistant is a most important individual. Have we looked well to his necessary book qualifications and to his continued opportunities for improvement while serving the library? And have we analyzed what these opportunities should be? We say frankly: First, the librarian is brother's keeper of all the assistants. Second, the educated library assistant in creating a love for books, owes as much to his fellow assistants, who have been less fortunate in the matter of education, as he does to the public. Third, that the library itself should become a progressive training school for love of books and reading.

It is the assistant who has caught the message of books, who has heard the gods calling him to celestial heights, who realizes what Robert Louis Stevenson expressed when he said that he felt like thanking God that he had a chance to earn his bread upon such joyful terms—it is such an assistant who makes the library a place where people want to read. And that is the true library whose books are read.

No one has a richer opportunity to be a public servant in all the fine significance of that word, than the assistant to the public in the public library. He may unlock the treasures of the past, for those treasures are committed unto him not for keeping but for sharing freely. This public servant may extend the knowledge of the discoveries and innovations of the present, and thus become an interpreter of the scholar's message. This public servant may match the answering book with the inquiring mind, the responsive page with the hungry soul. This public servant may lead out the spirit of youth, lift the burdens of middle life, may speak solace to old age through the thoughts and songs of poet and prophet, dramatist and seer. This public servant must be a great personality, either an achieved personality, or a personality in the making; this public servant must be a lover of people, a lover of life, and therefore a lover of books.

The CHAIRMAN: The next paper on the program is by Miss EDITH TOBITT, librarian of the Omaha public library. Miss Tobitt herself, I regret to say, is detained, but she has sent her paper and it will be read by Mr. Frank K. Walter, of the New York state library school.

TYPE OF ASSISTANTS:
ABILITY TO DISCERN QUALITY AND ESSENTIALS OF BOOKS AND POWER TO GIVE INFORMATION RATHER THAN ADVICE

When gathering the material for my part of this discussion of "Type of assistants," my inclination turned constantly to another wording of the title, that is, "the value of the book to the public dependent upon the intelligent discrimination of the assistant," so while I shall try to adhere more closely to the original subject than this would indicate, I hope that you will pardon me if I now and then talk on the second title.

"Efficiency in business" has received so much discussion of late that it is a brave person who dares assume the privilege of continuing the subject, but having seen the statement that "the more books of the right kind are read, the more efficient a nation becomes," a librarian naturally believes that the discussion has no end but may be continued indefinitely, for this means not only a supply of the right kind of books but also an efficient distribution of these books.

When speaking of the efficiency of the employees in a library, it would seem that the same general rule would hold as in other occupations, but this is scarcely true. The people who are served by an institution maintained at public expense expect a higher grade of service than when served by the employees of some private institution or business. No doubt, this is because a higher grade of honor or integrity is expected in the occupant of the office which is maintained for the public good, at the public expense, than one which is maintained for private gain. Naturally the same general rules regarding adaptability, politeness, industry, and various other attributes should be applied to the occupant of any position but in the case of the public servant only the very highest standards should be tolerated.

Aside from the public the librarian's first interest should be in the employees of the library. Again and again the statement has been made to the effect that the "work of getting the right book to the right person falls upon the desk assistant chiefly," but as almost all of the employees of a library are desk assistants at some time during each day, it follows that all of the employees bear almost equal responsibility.

It would seem that the selection of books for the library should have first attention, but books are easy of selection compared to employees, and easily disposed of if not found to be useful, while the assistant must be carefully placed in the department for which she is the best fitted. For taking all of the valuable characteristics of all of the assistants into consideration, there are to be found as many grades of value as there are books in the library. To be able to do the subject of "the library assistant" justice, the writer should have a very thorough knowledge of human nature, a knowledge generally possessed by successful teachers and sociological workers, but not often by the librarian. Such knowledge comes from a kind of experience not easily obtained by a librarian. It is more to a librarian's credit to know thoroughly the members of the staff and consequently be just to all than it is to have succeeded with any other one piece of work, because perfect justice toward employees will produce the best work for the library.

While the actual work of getting the right book to the right person may fall chiefly upon the desk assistant, the manner in which this is done emanates from those who decide the policy of the library. If those who are at the head of affairs have forgotten or have never realized that the library exists for the people, and that it is maintained at public expense for that purpose, and because of this lack of knowledge maintain an attitude of arrogance toward the people, the assistants will do the same. It is true that an indifferent and unsympathetic librarian cannot always prevent a capable and efficient assistant from doing her work well, yet the lack of efficiency at the head will often discourage capable assistants and will never better the work of poor ones.

In a library of medium size having thirty employees or less it is a comparatively easy matter for the librarian to keep in close touch with the work of the members of the staff and by personal effort maintain a definite standard, while in a large library this duty must of necessity be detailed to others. But whatever the means adopted, every library must have a definite standard of efficiency which bears directly upon the service to the public and although a full knowledge of the technical details of the work of the library are without question necessary, a proper knowledge of the right attitude toward the public is a greater necessity and should receive from the librarian much greater emphasis than the technical side.

The characteristic most to be desired in a library employee, in no matter what position, is that of the self-disciplined and well trained servant who understands the rights of others and what they should expect of him in his position, and who attempts to respond to this demand. These characteristics, if they exist, are inherent but may be more fully developed by experience.

It may be well to try to outline in a general way what should be expected of the occupants of some of the important positions in a library, for the final outcome of the work will depend upon the librarian's ability to discriminate in the selection of the right persons to fill these positions. For the children's librarian, the first requirement is a knowledge of children and the ability to feel and show sympathy and affection without being sentimental. Many attractions may be introduced into the children's department but the vital things are to know the children and the books. A mistake in the appointment to this position might be more nearly fatal than a mistake in any one of the other departments, for the ability of the children's librarian to discern intelligently those qualities in a book which are right for the child may permanently settle that child's taste in literature. The future well being of the library often depends upon the wise choice of the children's librarian.

A knowledge and love of people may also be put as the first requisite for the head of the circulation department, extending not only to the people who are generally called "the public" but also to the employees of the library. This position may well be considered the most important in the library, next to the librarian and assistant, for from this source the other employees will instinctively acquire the standard for their treatment of the public and obtain their ideas of what is the amount of knowledge of books which should be expected of a desk assistant. The personality of the head of the circulation department and her ability to be helpful and to teach those in her department to be helpful, can do more toward increasing the usefulness of a library than any other one characteristic. The employee given to much detail is not generally a success here. Rather that employee who, by strength of personality, leads others to do good work, is the best. The head of the circulation department has the best opportunity of any one in the library for making a direct path from the borrower to the book.

Scholarship, without question, must be considered the first requirement for the reference librarian, and if the public is to learn to have confidence in the library as an educational institution, no mistake must be made here. But the scholarship must always be allied with the desire to do service.

Frequently the cataloger appears to the other members of the staff to be so far removed from direct contact with people that it is assumed she cannot intelligently know what the public wants. Except in very rare instances this is a mistake, as has been proved by some of our great catalogs, the makers of which probably rarely waited upon the public. It is the ability to put oneself in the place of the questioner, to have a sympathetic interest in the people, that counts, and also to realize seriously that only by means of the catalog can the public have a true knowledge of what is in the library.

The same general rules may be followed all through the library. Different positions require different qualifications and it rests with the librarian to see that the employee fits the position. If this is not done it will make little difference how good the collection of books may be, the contents of the library will not reach the public in a direct way. The library is what the librarian and assistants make it by their intelligent use of the material supplied.

This may all seem very commonplace. If it is, then why have we not profited more by what we already know? It must be granted that many libraries inherit employees who are not particularly well fitted for the place they are expected to fill. The only thing to do in this case is to put them where they will do the least harm. We cannot expect to maintain an all star cast, but by studying carefully the people in the employ of the library the librarian can generally so manipulate things that eventually the right person will be in the right place.

The program makers asked to have discussed "the ability to discern quality and essentials in books." For this we must have first the student and careful reader who, through the study of various subjects is able to judge the literature of those subjects. It cannot reasonably be expected that library employees will be able to have a first hand knowledge of all classes of literature, but all employees may become reasonably familiar with the names of the best writers on many subjects and the character of their work. It is by means of the various literary tools provided and the ability to acquire a more general knowledge of many subjects by much reading that the library employee increases in value. In this particular part of the work the library assistant gains more by much reading than she does by experience.

It is not my duty to discuss the kind or the extent of the education possessed by those who become library employees. We all agree that this should be the broadest and the most general possible with emphasis placed on literature and history. Most of our assistants enter the library training classes at the close of a high school course, and, generally speaking, librarians do not expect more than this because the salaries which are offered will not attract people of higher education. Therefore, if an assistant is to learn to discern quality and essentials in books some provision should be made by which this knowledge may be acquired in the library after entering as an employee. Just as the librarian is responsible for the attitude of the assistants toward the public so are the librarian and heads of departments responsible for the growth of the efficiency of the employees in this particular phase of library work.

A standard of efficiency must be maintained along this line of education as well as personal treatment of the public, therefore it is impossible to emphasize too strongly the necessity of continuing the education of the library employees after finishing the work of the training class and after having become an employee of the library. It can scarcely be considered advisable to attempt to give much practice work in all departments to all employees but it should be one of the requirements of the library that provision be made whereby all of the employees in a department shall learn to know the general character and the value of most of the books in that department.

From the library periodicals of England one may gather that there is some rather severe criticism of the assistants in libraries, the general feeling being that a lack of efficiency deprives the public of their proper share of service. I should like to quote from a paper by Mr. John Bar, which appeared in the Library world (vol. 13).

"If the library would only adopt a policy whereby a guarantee could be had that the assistants in the library would be taught their profession in a thorough manner, I am positive that the now prevalent lament regarding the apathy and carelessness of assistants would be reduced to a vanishing point, because from observation, I believe that the assistant is the product of his environment; he is what the conditions in the library make him. The policy of the library should be to provide the staff with every opportunity for improvement in general, literary, and technical knowledge. In order to meet the first part of the proposal, the time of the staff should be so arranged as to allow a reasonable portion for private study as well as recreation. And in order to fulfil the latter part—that relating to technical knowledge—the work of the library should be so organized as to ensure that every assistant shall, in a series of progressive steps, obtain an adequate and thorough knowledge of all the practical details of librarianship."

The people of America cannot offer quite as severe criticism of their library employees as this would imply has been offered in England, but the suggestions regarding further education after entering the library, are such as we might well follow.

The second item suggested by the program makers reads "the power to give information rather than advice." This naturally would come through the ability of the employee to eliminate his own opinion and to put forward instead the opinions of those who are qualified to know. Here again the employee may, by much reading, become more efficient. There is nothing so offensive to patrons of a free institution as to have unsolicited opinions and advice offered by employees. And yet this is a characteristic of the new employee and is prompted not by conceit but by a desire to be helpful and to please. The best way to be helpful in a library, as elsewhere, is to help people to help themselves. In this as in all of the work of the library the standard must be that established by those highest in authority, and ways and methods must be put forward whereby the assistant may know what plan she is to follow.

The ability to be helpful comes by much experience, both personal experience and the experience of others. To quote, "experience is the force which makes life possible ... and books alone give permanence to the facts of experience." Therefore to busy people in need of the experiences of others, the greatest help comes by much reading.

We may attempt in every way possible to make general rules governing the efficiency of the library staff, and attempt to maintain certain definite standards, both for the sake of the public and in order to keep down the expense of maintenance, but with all this we shall never be able to reach a perfect system, partly because many employees give promise of much, but soon reach the limit of their capacity and cease to grow, and also because of the frequent unavoidable changes.

There is some variance in the minds of librarians regarding the place of the library in a city, but without discussion we must all agree that first of all the free public library is a collection of books maintained for the use of the public. In order that these books may be available the employees must not only give efficient service, but they must also have a clear understanding of the public.

It has been said many times that a few books in the hands of an intelligent and discriminating employee are of greater value than a large collection poorly handled. The employees constitute the medium by which the books reach the public and it rests with the buyer, the cataloger, the desk assistant, the reference librarian, and the children's librarian to see that these get into the hands of the right people at the right time. It is here that the careful discrimination of the librarian and assistants is necessary.

The average library is much too large to be well used by the public and the employees of the library. In most libraries of 100,000 volumes there are possibly not more than 10,000 which are of real value. If the employees could know the authors, titles, and something of the contents of most of these it is quite as much as may be expected. If the assistant comes to the library with a reasonably good education and something of a desire to add to what she has, and will read regularly of books which are of general interest there is no reason why she should not learn to discriminate quite as carefully in the selection of books for the individual borrower as the assistant who has made a special study of the criticism of literature.

No mention has been made of requirements for special positions in a library. This can only be settled after the employee has shown some fitness for special work. As the library is what the librarian and assistants make it, it rests with the librarian and those in the highest positions in the library to decide definitely on a policy, the result of which shall be prompt and efficient service from the time of the purchase of the books to their final distribution into the hands of the people.

The CHAIRMAN: Next upon the program occurs the paper, "The efficiency of the library staff and scientific management," by ADAM STROHM, assistant librarian Detroit public library.

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE LIBRARY STAFF AND SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

In conversing one day with the superintendent of one of our local industries where the library is maintaining a station, I learned something of the many provisions devised by the welfare department of the organization as conducted by the social secretaries of the company. From my tour of inspection I have a vivid recollection of attractive dining rooms, an indoor gymnasium with an up-to-date swimming pool, office or laboratory for a medical attendant to administer first aid and attend to accidents of more or less serious nature, architectural plans, free of charge, for prospective home builders, a well selected book collection of popular and technical character, presided over by a representative of the public library, which institution also arranges for biweekly noon lectures on popular and instructive topics. On my commending the humanitarian spirit animating the management of the company the prompt response came: "That element enters only as incidental in our policy. It is all a matter of business. We must hold our organization intact. It is important to retain our skilled workmen and we must make it worth their while to remain with us."

If it has been found to be good policy to provide for the contentment and welfare of the human units in an organization where, after all, a large part of the day's work is rather mechanical and of fixed standards, how vastly more important it must be to give a close, generous consideration to the happiness and comfort of the personnel in a library system where the personal service is of paramount importance, where the physical and mental vitality is under constant pressure, where improvement in the day's work is always exacted and where the result yielded to the individual effort is uncertain and often undemonstrable.

In the case of library service, humanitarian regard should weigh equally with considerations of statistics and output, inasmuch as library work is a service for humanity and its welfare. Those entrusted with the management of libraries may well remember the maxim that "as we do we teach," which, applied to library conditions, may lead us to conclude that whatsoever is done to promote the happiness and best instincts of the rank and file in a library organization, will result directly in instilling in the public service, rendered by them, a spirit of sympathy, ready regard of the rights and needs of the public and an eagerness to serve loyally. Any library management conceived and executed in this spirit may be depended upon for achievements in what is really library economy.

I'll endeavor to formulate some suggestions toward effecting such results and I can harbor but feelings of satisfaction, should I be advised later that they have already been practically realized in some institutions.

The question of how to maintain and increase the efficiency of the staff might well be approached from two angles, the physical and the mental conservation of forces.

Dr. Luther H. Gulick makes the statement, that "there are conditions for each individual under which he can do the most and the best work. It is the business of those in charge of others to ascertain these conditions and to comply with them."

We hear so much in our day about scientific management that we may be led to begin inquiring skeptically if its value is not exaggerated in the interests of professional organizers, systematizers, etc.

No working chart for computing the energy of a mental effort or for the increase of its productiveness has as yet been devised but none of us will deny the need of a working plan for the day's work. Else we drift.

According to the new doctrine as laid down by Mr. H. N. Casson, "there is no such thing as unskilled labor, there is an intelligent method for every accomplishment. Scientific management does not mean frenzied production. On the contrary, it individualizes the workman, it means the better ordering of the work for the best interests of both individual and the service. Consequently, it provides for recreation as well as for work. It insists that the individual shall not sag so far down at the end of the day's work that he will not recuperate." This concerns not only expended energy but misdirected energy.

The day's schedule should be so arranged that work requiring the highest mental effort be assigned to the most fruitful hours of the individual, the work so distributed that each individual performs the task he can best do and is most worthy of his highest skill.

Pride in the work under your hand, the sense of doing something worth while, generates the spirit of loyalty and happiness which reckons, not so much with the written library regulations, as with the unwritten law of the service to stand by cheerfully as long as needed.

During the recent years I spent in the East, it was my privilege to become intimately acquainted with one of the most distinguished engineers our country produced during the last half-century. One day when I had occasion to call upon this gentleman, I was directed to proceed from his office to one of the noisiest departments of his extensive mills. There I finally located him seated on an anvil, watching taciturnly the moving throng of busy mechanics. I learned afterwards that the lifelong habit of this philosophic engineer was to emerge from his secluded office and enter the quarters where the "wheels turn around." There he would in his quiet manner ask shrewd questions and enter into conversation with any one whose task or skill attracted him. It is on behalf of the rank and file in the library world that I draw upon this recollection of an industrial organization noted for its resources and efficiency. Invite the confidence of every member of the staff, welcome suggestions, allow your assistants to voice the conclusions their experience and service bring home to them, listen with sympathy to suggestions prompted by loyalty and daily pondering. There are times when we may well forget our official gradings, when it will prove profitable to learn from the members of the crew how our theories stand the test.

The question of hours, salaries and vacations can be answered only in a general way. The gauge by which we examine the running of the human machinery entrusted to us should be read with sympathy, and we should set a pace that we can hold the entire day or the working period of a normal life. Speaking for our own institution, we adhere to the 42-hour weekly schedule with provision for a weekly half-holiday. Evening work should certainly never exceed the number three in any one week and personally I'm leaning toward the more desirable two evenings a week. Where a special evening force is employed the recommendation of course, does not apply.

The restroom and the kitchenette are now so generally established as to be past the stage of argument. These restrooms should be well equipped and no niggardly considerations should stand in the way of making them neat, airy and inviting in order to afford comfort and relaxation. The appearance and atmosphere of the restroom should banish the dull sense of drudgery and evoke the gentler side of life.

The half-holiday and vacation should be provided, not so much because a faithful servant has earned a rest, but because without it life means living at a low level, with the certain result of deadening one's faculties, ambition and alertness, whereas these should all grow with one's experience and work. Certainly a month's vacation in the course of a year is a minimum respite in any professional activity of confined nature and mental concentration. We must consider the weight of the statement made by Luther H. Gulick that, "growth is predominantly a function of rest and that the best work that most of us do is not in our offices or at our desks, but when we are wandering in the woods, or sitting quietly with undirected thoughts." Those who are entrusted with the responsibility of supervising the daily toil of others should so govern that each individual remains "master of his own work and not its slave."

Just a few words as to the rate of compensation prevailing in the library profession today. In so far as the city of Detroit is concerned, the scale of wages now in operation and adopted some three years ago, was based on the salaries paid in the public schools which seems a fitting arrangement inasmuch as our public library is an outgrowth of, and, as to appointment of trustees, still under the control of the Municipal Board of Education. The professional training and executive skill required in a librarian of today make it seem reasonable that his or her compensation should be fairly at par with the salaries paid in other city departments where professional training is among the requisites, such as Department of City Engineer, City Attorney, Municipal Museum, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Principal of a High School, etc. Our salary schedule based upon the schedule applying to principals and teachers in our local public schools operates in parts as follows:

Heads of departments to receive the same pay as principals of eight room schools.

Branch librarians to receive the same pay as principals of seven room schools.

First assistants to heads of departments to receive a salary corresponding with that of assistants to principals of schools. In the same manner the schedule applies to the rank and file, promotions being given semi-annually, based on seniority and service record.

That this regulation would apply satisfactorily in other municipalities is questionable, as may be deduced from a statement made by one congressman, who, in discussing the salaries paid the school teachers in the city of Washington remarked with blunt sympathy that "the policemen were paid more to crash the skulls of the children in Washington than the teachers were paid for putting something into them."

To maintain the efficiency of the library staff it is necessary not only to consider the welfare of the individual during his working hours but to provide such material regard for his day's toil that his vitality and enjoyment of life may be conserved by having the means to afford the necessary comfort and social status consistent with our profession.

To consider the importance of personal appearance, neatness in dress in our service with the public is simply to recognize the point of view of the library patron whose opinion is worth while, and how are we to exact this showing of "fine front" if we do not defray the cost thereof?

It is difficult, if not physiologically unsound, to speak about the mental conservation of the library staff apart from its physical maintenance, but in considering the former I would invite your attention to what Mr. P. W. Goldsbury so aptly calls "the recreation through the senses." Mr. Goldsbury remarks, "the importance of our understanding, the wide range of the functions of our senses, the influence of our surroundings and the manner in which they react on our minds." He illustrates his point by quoting the saying that "for horses the hardest road out of London is the most level one. There are no hills to climb and descend, and the tired horse has no chance to rest one set of muscles while another works. Monotony produces fatigue; and because this particular road is one dead, monotonous level, more horses give out on it than on any other road leading out of London." Irresistibly the moral of the canvas before us breaks in upon our individual sense of self-preservation and our responsibility for the welfare of others. For economic as well as for humanitarian reasons it behooves us to so apportion the day's work that one's senses are exercised one after another and through interchange of duties and tasks, not only one's body but one's mind is given a variety of exercise and impressions. The rotation of duties every two hours in departments where direct service with the public is given, will, I believe, be found to afford some relaxation and wholesome change to attendants on duty, especially so, if the change afford the alternative of stationary position and moving about.

We all know how one's mind, spirit, aye, even nerves are affected by objects within our vision, the feeling of depression that benumbs us when our eyes rest on dingy colors and ugly outlines, when we dwell in gloomy quarters or poorly ventilated rooms. Architects and librarians will find that the efficiency of the human machinery housed within the library walls will be maintained at its best if beautiful effects in color and design of interior decorations are features of the library equipment, if daylight is abundant, furnishings tasteful, atmospheric conditions invigorating—let us sometimes have even the fragrance and color-play of flowers. The capacity of our senses for higher development is nourished by the stimulus from the outside world which brings to us, often unconsciously, mental and physical refreshment and recreation. The occasional relaxation in the day's work contributes to a reasonable mental and physical balance, even the occasional conversation during working hours may well be tolerated, certainly any undue restriction thereof will do more harm than good.

I trust that in siding with the authority just quoted and submitting to you these considerations I will not be charged with implying that "work is to take secondary place." To the contrary:—it is by consideration of the little things, by modulating adverse factors, by dealing in a common sense manner with the conditions surrounding our physical and mental field of daily toil, that we may be able to restore the energy that we expend and not only maintain, but increase, our efficiency.

Our stock in trade, our best assets in library work are the joy of the work and the happiness of the individual. The response from each one of us to the call for ever more faithful and efficient service will come with a hearty good will if our strength be protected—our altruistic visions given time and leisure to go woolgathering.

The CHAIRMAN: It is well known to all of us that the Province of Ontario has done notable library work in recent years. Under the guidance of a corps of educational and library officials this work has been stimulated and intensified. A great aid too in the work has been the Ontario library association, with a membership, organization, meetings and committee work that correspond favorably with any other library organization anywhere. The conference has not up to this moment had an opportunity to hear in an official way from the Ontario library association, which must of course be numbered among the hosts of this meeting. Dr. C. R. Charteris, its president, is in the room, and the chair is very certain that the conference will not be content without a few words of greeting from the president of the Ontario library association.

Dr. Charteris expressed pleasure at bringing greetings from the Ontario library association, saying they were backed by about one hundred representatives from the province. He was sure that all, whether trustees or librarians would return home with renewed energy and endeavor to increase interest in library work.

The CHAIRMAN: As this point, ladies and gentlemen, the program naturally divides, and we are brought to that portion of it prepared by the Professional training section of the association. The gavel will be turned over to the chairman of that section, Mr. Matthew S. Dudgeon, secretary of the Wisconsin free library commission.

(Mr. Dudgeon takes the chair.)

The CHAIRMAN: Those of us who are interested directly in library schools, as well as those of you who are more indirectly, but none the less vitally, interested in library schools, feel that we are fortunate that the next subject, "What library schools can do for the profession," should be presented by a man who has not only seen the inside of library schools as a student, but also, as secretary of a state commission, as secretary of the American Library Association, and as librarian of a public library, has seen the needs of the library and has seen what the capacities of the library school graduate are to meet those needs. I will call upon, but not introduce, Mr. CHALMERS HADLEY, librarian of the Denver public library.

WHAT LIBRARY SCHOOLS CAN DO FOR THE PROFESSION

For nearly thirty years an invigorating influence has come to library work through the library schools. During that time hundreds of young men and women, selected for personal and educational qualifications, have been given training in the mechanics of library work and have been placed in touch with the best library thought. As a result, fewer libraries have been converted into laboratories for experimental work in technique.

The library schools have been commended repeatedly by this association and their services are too obvious for comment. In considering, however, what they can do for the profession today, we shall assume the role of the devil's advocate and endeavor to point out how they may serve more fully in what they are doing and what they should do that perhaps is not being done. In the time available we can do little more than summarize.

The first library school was founded and conducted in connection with a university library and for several years at least, its curriculum showed the strong influence of university demands. The curricula of the later schools have been modified somewhat, but changes have been unimportant as compared to the traditions retained. These were carried from the pioneer school to those established later with certain general basic principles which doubtless always will be kept.

For several years a feeling has been sensed, although vaguely expressed that changes and modifications in library school courses were needed. There have been convictions that the schools were not as closely in touch with certain growing activities in library work as libraries themselves were with growing demands and new fields open to them. These convictions have been most pronounced in the schools themselves. As stated by one library school director,—"In some way, the library school should train its students to meet the vital demands that humanity makes upon all who come regularly in communication with people." The aim of the school seems more clearly realized than the means of attaining it, but efforts are seen in the shifts and changes in curricula. In preparing its students to meet the vital demands that humanity will make, it is evident the schools have concluded this can best be done by additions rather than eliminations from courses of study. The training conducted by the oldest school began with a three months' course which in the second year was increased to seven months and then to two years. Another school, typical of several, has never increased the time period over one year, but has so increased the work required that in eight and one-half months, including vacations and holidays, instruction and examinations are given in forty-three subjects, a minimum of three hundred and seventy-seven hours of practice work is required, and a trip of six hundred miles in ten days is taken when some fifteen to twenty libraries are inspected and reported on.

In these crowded courses of study, the schools should be expected by the profession to prevent its ideals from being smothered in the stress of technical work. The usual incentive to enter library work comes from a love of books but this love will avail little if it be unaccompanied by a consuming desire that the community also share it. Generalities and pseudo-sentiment concerning ideals have invited ridicule, but no librarian, however reticent or how unrecognized his actuating principles may be, can carry on his work successfully without following the vision which vitalizes his professional life. From 1876 to the present day, this association has cherished its aims and our schools can do no greater service than imparting those guiding principles that the means of work may not become the end.

No institution can create qualities lacking in a student and library schools will concern themselves mainly with the mechanics of library work, which is most difficult to obtain elsewhere. But this instruction may either strengthen or weaken indispensable qualities for librarianship and the profession reasonably can expect the schools to foster such. Three related qualities which should be developed in prospective librarians are: a sense of proportion in library work, initiative and judgment.

When we consider the importance of a proper sense of proportion, should we not congratulate ourselves that the schools are devoting less attention to a particular handwriting and other incidentals, the insistence on which always seemed to belittle the dignity of a great work. Legibility in a medical prescription is more important than on a catalog card, but medical colleges and library schools alike can concentrate their strength on more vital needs.

In expecting the schools to develop initiative and good judgment in a student, it is not suggested that students be encouraged to attempt changes in systems of classification, cataloging and other technical processes which have been perfected by the best library thought of two generations. In such a course as book selection, however, after general principles are presented, cannot students be thrown more fully on their own judgment and their practice work be confined to evaluating current publications? Their conclusions could then be verified by comparison with selections in the order department. A year's work confined to sitting in judgment on books from five to fifty years old, when these books are known to be desirable through their presence on the shelves, deadens initiative and judgment and makes routine of what should be one of the refreshing pleasures of the work.

One of the profession's needs today is more men—men whose abilities would qualify them for the highest positions in any work, and these the library schools should attract. While many of the most useful and talented library workers are women, the fact remains that the demand for good men far exceeds the supply, yet we find an astonishing shortage in the schools. Even the school most largely attended by men, reports a decrease since the year 1903. More than one school has attracted so few that the presence of a man is noteworthy and there seem to be schools connected with universities where hundreds of young men are preparing for professional life, that have yet to enroll one man student.

Should we not expect the schools to supply more men? Can they not co-operate with the American library association in presenting the claims and rewards of librarianship to young men in the universities? Not only would such presentations interest both men and women, but they would help to dispel many existing mediaeval conceptions of library work which still survive. Our shortage in men cannot be due entirely to the financial returns in library work. The average salary of men in that work exceeds the average in several crowded professions, and yet our greatest rewards are not in money returns. Men may regard the school courses simply as means to an end, and if so, perhaps the means could be made to appeal more strongly to men. It is rash in these days to compare attributes of the masculine and feminine mind, but may we venture to say women, as a rule, have more patience and enjoyment than men in work requiring sustained attention to details. Do not library school courses, as now arranged, appeal largely to the house-wifely instincts and cannot courses be devised for men who never intend to fill library positions where the exercise of these instincts will ever play so important a part in their work as will problems of administration and questions of library policy. We shall admit that all students should have sufficient training in cataloging for instance, to know good or poor cataloging when met with. But personally I fail to see why a man destined for administrative work should necessarily have to do expert cataloging in order to appreciate it, any more than he would first have to write a book before his judgment in book selection for his library could be relied on.

During the last ten years the library has undergone phenomenal development in its relations with other educational and social forces. Today we must co-operate not only with the public school, but with the social settlement, the juvenile court, and various other special municipal activities. The profession should expect the schools to provide their students with a working knowledge of what the relations of a library to these activities should be, what methods employed bring best results and what some of the problems and possibilities are from such relations. And most important of all, the schools should be expected to provide candidates for library work with a proper appreciation at least of the importance of the library's public relations in general. No mastery of technique or high endeavor greatly avails if the library's public relations be not handled intelligently and skillfully. Rules and regulations are but the written creeds of institutions in the details of loaning books, but back of all of them are the great unwritten laws and principles of procedure, more important than all the printed regulations in existence. Great policies in public relations are being tried and tested today and light on them should be focused through the schools so prospective librarians can see ahead more clearly. Questions of relations with the public are confronting all who, in the words quoted before, have to meet the vital demands that come through constant communication with people. In the Public service magazine of April, 1912, under the heading "Public relations—the vital problem," the following is taken from the president's address before the Illinois Association of Gas Manufacturers:

"Slowly probably, but surely, the majority of owners and operators of public utilities are coming to the realization that the most important,—the most vital subject with which they have to deal in the management of their properties today, is that of public relations. It used to be that the man who could put the most gas in the holders at the lowest cost, or could generate the most power at the electric or street car plant, was the most important in the whole organization.

"It is different now. The basis of organization has changed and the man who has made a study of public relations—the man who can create and conserve the public good will is given the reins of control."

But should a man wish to make a particular study of the library's public relations before he is compelled to assume the responsibilities accompanying them, he may have difficulty. One school makes provision for special students, but on account of the extra work each additional student makes on the faculty, it is often impossible to enter. Admission depends on available desk room and on condition that the regular classes are not so large as to occupy the entire time of the faculty.

The theory at present seems to be,—give every student a little of everything he may need, as the process of forgetting what he will not use is easier than the work of acquiring it should he need it. We therefore see men destined for control of large libraries, women planning for positions as catalogers in university libraries, candidates for small public institutions, those who will specialize in bibliographical work—all of them differing in natural inclinations, special preliminary training and professional aims in library life, being introduced to forty-three phases of library work, with instruction in all of them varying from 2 to 101 hours, according to the subject, with at least 377 hours of practice work and a library trip—through all of which the student emerges in eight and one-half months, possibly somewhat bewildered by the process but groping for the ladder up which he is determined to climb.

Cannot the schools do the greatest service to the student and to the profession by abandoning the plan of putting all students through the same square hole? Instead of giving a little of everything, cannot the school give much of what the student will use and nothing of what he can dispense with or what can be got easily outside of the school? Cannot the courses be simplified somewhat to permit this? Entrance examinations are conducted early in June for admission to the school in September. Cannot a study of the history of libraries, the history of books and printing, the reading of library literature on publishing houses and other non-technical work be required of the student during the intervening three months? The literature would gladly be provided by libraries over the country and the three months' reading and intelligent observation in the library by the student before beginning his technical training would be advantageous. Three months' acquaintance and observation of the student by the librarian would make his recommendations valuable to the school.

But school courses as at present outlined cannot be made sufficiently flexible to provide specific training for specific work. Therefore, cannot the schools divide the instructional field between them and concentrate their individual efforts on special lines. This division of work is done most successfully by libraries in large cities.

Such a division would have several advantages. A man loving responsibility and the management of affairs could secure a maximum of definite training for administrative work and a minimum of work less important in his professional career. A woman under appointment as head of a small public library, would receive a maximum of training for this work and a minimum in the methods and features of work in a college library. One of promise as a cataloger would receive a maximum of technical training made possible through a minimum of time and effort required in studying the problems of a children's librarian.

The objection can be raised that neither the school nor the student can determine his future work and therefore a minimum number of hours in as many as forty-three subjects is preferable as a foundation. But in these general courses as outlined today, there is a great preponderance of work in certain lines. In speaking of the time devoted to cataloging, one school director said, "There is, however, much reason for this, as a large number of the graduates become catalogers and many others enter positions where a knowledge of cataloging is essential."

We shall agree that an expert knowledge of cataloging is essential in many positions, but has not the large number of graduates from this school who have become catalogers, been due partly at least to the fact that twice the time in school was devoted to this work than to any other, the aggregate equaling the combined hours of seventeen other branches.

The fact that one's special training largely determines one's field of work, is seen in another library school where a maximum of children's work is made possible by a minimum in some other departments. The result is that of the 148 graduates of this school, 107 were, last year, engaged in children's work, principally as heads of departments. The remaining 41 graduates were represented in other fields of library work.

The division of the field between the various schools would have another advantage of the student. At present, a school's geographical location, or its entrance requirements largely decides a student in selecting a school. But would it not be better if the student's selection were based on what the school could offer in special lines of work.

It may be thought that a prospective student lacks the self-knowledge to determine his qualifications for special work. Many students have and more should have library experience before schools are entered and these will know their intentions and qualifications. Even if an occasional mistake were made, the student still would have instruction in the various lines of library work.

In the school referred to before, the 41 graduates who are not filling positions for which special training was given, are successfully occupying positions of honor and responsibility in other library fields.

Again, the law of supply and demand makes no exception to library work, and with a division of the field, a student could receive the fullest training in the work for which there was the greatest demand.

In conclusion, the profession should not expect the schools to turn out finished products. Librarianship is not merely a process. It is also a habit of mind—an attitude towards public affairs which seeks activity through the medium of books. But in inculcating the principles toward this attitude, the profession must rely and can rely with confidence on the schools.

The CHAIRMAN: The paper just presented, and other phases of the subject, will be discussed by Mr. William H. Brett of the Cleveland public library.

Mr. BRETT: My good friend Mr. Hadley has stated so clearly the problems, the purposes and the difficulties of the library school, and I am so heartily in accord with so much that he has said, that I regret that I must differ from some of his conclusions. In considering these questions we must bear in mind that a majority of the students are in schools giving only a one year's course, and only a minority are so fortunate as to be able to attend the schools giving courses of two or more years. Now, the problem and the difficulty in a one year school is to arrange a course of study which shall be best for students entering school with widely differing preparation, some with, others without, library experience, and with differing aptitudes, abilities, ambitions and plans for the future. To arrange a course which will best meet the needs of such an aggregation of students is a serious problem.

The criticisms on the work of the schools in the paper, seem to be mainly, first, that too much of the routine work, the technical work, is unnecessary for those who may be so fortunate in the future as to fill administrative or other important positions, in which they will not need to do such work, and that routine work of that sort tends to deaden those more important things, sense of proportion, initiative, judgment, ability to deal with the larger problems of life. While I fully agree as to the importance of these things, I believe there is little occasion to fear that a solid technical course will lessen these qualities in any one who is so fortunate as to have them in any eminent degree. It seems to me that those qualities are rather the gift of God to their fortunate possessors than the work of the library schools. My own conviction is that whether it be had in the first year of one of the larger schools, or in a school giving a one year course, a definite, solid basis of technical training is an absolutely essential foundation for good library work. I believe that any specialization in library work should be built on such a foundation, just as specialization in law, in medicine and in the technical professions, is based on a general professional training.

We should have, I think, in our library training, the opportunity for specializing when the students are ready for it, but I believe that whatever position one is to occupy, whatever work in the library one may be fortunate enough to do, the solid, general training of one year in a library school is none too much as an introduction and basis. So that I believe that specialization in a one year course is not desirable, even if it were practicable, which it is not for at least two reasons: The time is too short and the expense too great. Such a suggestion reminds me of something which I heard President Eliot of Harvard say once upon a time at a meeting of school superintendents, on the subject of enriching and broadening the course in grammar schools. He argued in a very strong and interesting way for greater freedom for the brighter child to pass along more rapidly by means of special instruction. It was answered in various ways by the school men, but to me the answer was very clear, namely, that what Harvard university, with one instructor for eight or nine students, could do is not practicable in grade schools with one instructor for fifty students.

So any attempt to specialize in a one year course would require an increase of cost for instruction greater than the result would be likely to justify. An important co-operation has been at various times suggested and discussed as follows: If the courses of the one year schools could be so closely approximated to the first year's work in the larger schools that students having completed the one year's course might afterwards, if able to meet the requirements, complete their work, specializing, if they chose, in the second and third years' work of the larger schools, this would seem a perfectly feasible and desirable thing.

Another co-operation which I think would be of great value might be arranged with the colleges if they would give credit for work in the library school. A large part of the work in the library school, such as book selection, the subject headings, classifications, the use of reference books, and some other subjects, have a definite and high educational value, equal I believe, we may fairly say, to that of the average value of the college curriculum. If the college would be willing to give credit for a fair share of this work, the student might by some overtime work, graduate from college and from a library school giving one year courses, in four years, or by adding another year, from college and a two year library school. This would, of course, require co-operation through the course. In one instance such a co-operation has been planned and will be put into operation, the college proposing to give a credit of six-tenths of one year for one year's work in the library school. The initiative in that case came from the college. It is true as we all know that we are trying to secure for the service a preparation in college and in library school which is out of proportion to the salaries paid. This is the inevitable condition of a new profession. Adequate recognition will not be given to a profession until it has by long service demonstrated its importance, nor will individual members receive adequate salaries until they prove their efficiency. This is as true in the library as it is in business. In business salaries are usually based on the proven value of services already rendered. No young man in a mercantile house is likely to receive a salary in 1913 larger than he has shown his ability to earn in 1912. In other words, the man or the woman who grows in business relations must keep the work ahead of the salary. Keep the work away beyond the compensation and the compensation will follow it along even though it may not overtake it.

To bring about the best results the library schools should co-operate with each other and with the colleges to bring up and maintain high standards and to insist on a good, solid, general and technical foundation, upon which specialization may be built.

The CHAIRMAN: I am not sure but that there should have been a second paper, upon the subject of "What the library schools can not do for the profession." I wonder if it has ever occurred to you that a medical school confines a student for four years before he is permitted to go at large. I wonder if you have ever put to yourselves the question, how many medical students, in their first, or second, or third, or fourth year after graduation, you have been ready to employ in vital matters in your own family. I am quite sure that were any of the young ladies here seeking to employ a lawyer in a breech of promise suit against any of the young men, they would not go to the law graduate in the first year of his experience. It seems to me, therefore, that it is not surprising at all that we do not find in the library school graduate, during the early years of his actual work, all the business ability, the diplomatic qualities and the personality, book knowledge and tact that we might expect. We cannot do everything in one year, I think we all agree. What we do wish to know, and what we welcome very definitely, I am sure, from the standpoint of the schools, is that you let us know, in any way possible, what we can do that has not been done.

The discussion will be carried on further by Mr. Edwin H. Anderson, of the New York public library.

Mr. E. H. ANDERSON: I find myself in such general agreement with Mr. Hadley's excellent paper that I fear I can do little to stir up interest by discussion.

His point that in the first library school the influence of the university library was too marked and that university demands have had too much influence on the curricula of all schools, seems to me well taken. It is only natural that it should be so; but since most of the schools are now directly connected with, or closely related to, public libraries, I think their courses of instruction are more and more losing the marks of university influence. This influence should still hold with the schools connected with universities. But these schools, it seems to me, should frankly specialize and prepare students for university library work.

Mr. Hadley very properly emphasizes the need for more men students in the schools. I am sure all the existing schools are glad to have as many good men as they can get. The difficulty seems to be to find enough men of the right sort who are sufficiently interested in library work to take a course of formal training for it. If the schools could, as Mr. Hadley suggests, coöperate with the American Library Association in presenting the claims and rewards of librarianship to young men in the universities, I think the results would justify the effort. I would suggest therefore that the A. L. A. Committee on professional training consider this suggestion and arrange to act upon it as soon as possible. There is a crying demand for more men from the schools. The only remedy for the present condition is to induce more men of the right sort to enter the schools. Mr. Hadley has suggested one method of accomplishing this. Another and more direct method is for librarians themselves to call to the attention of young men of the right sort the opportunities which the schools open to them for professional library work. I think the heads of the schools will agree with me when I say that in general their best students are those who are sent to them by librarians. Now if these same librarians would make a special point of urging upon educated young men the advantages of the school training, both the schools and the profession would profit by it. Nothing is so effective as personal suggestion and explanation; and a librarian who likes his work should have little difficulty in arousing the interest of university men of his acquaintance who are not attracted by the older professions.

Mr. Hadley seems to think that much of the instruction in the schools at present is wasted upon one "destined" for administrative work. The difficulty is to tell when a man or a woman is destined for work of this sort. The inclination for it is not always accompanied by the necessary qualifications. How are we to determine who is destined for administrative work and who for work of another sort? A student might enter a library school expecting to prepare for administrative duties and find after a term's study that he preferred, or was better fitted for, some other kind of work. Personally I can say that few of the things I studied at the library school have proved useless to me in administrative work.

Mr. Hadley makes one suggestion which has often been under discussion in library school alumni associations, and which I happen to know was very seriously considered by the faculty of one library school some five years ago. This suggestion is that the schools provide courses of instruction in general library administration for those who look forward to administrative positions. Most of the schools have lectures each year from librarians of various sorts of libraries—large, small, public, university, etc.,—in which they are asked to tell in general terms how their libraries are administered. The question is, can the schools go further than this? Is there a science of administration which can be taught? The qualities needed for administrative work, library or other, are the gift of the gods, not of the schools. The schools can give the students a firsthand knowledge of the various phases of library work, and this is important. But they cannot give breadth of view to a mind naturally narrow; nor can they endow the student with personal force and poise, tact, savoir-faire, sympathy, a sense of justice,—in a word with gumption. Now a course of formal instruction in administrative gumption is one that no librarian with any gumption would attempt to give. The whole school of life is devoted to this course, and few degrees are conferred. He would be a god-like instructor indeed who could impart to his students the gifts of the gods as developed and perfected by the great school of experience. Anything less than the thunders of Sinai would be an inadequate introduction to such a course. What I am trying to emphasize is that the essential qualities for administrative work are too general and intangible to be taught formally in any kind of school. The schools cannot give their students a knowledge and love of books; these, for the most part, they must bring with them. Neither can they give them a knowledge of life. Are they not, therefore, by the very nature of the case, restricted to teaching chiefly the technique, I had almost said the mechanics, of library work? A knowledge of the technique is necessary to the administrator; but the ability to make the best use of this technique is a natural endowment developed by experience and environment through the course of years. Have we any right to expect a library school to provide more than a small part of that experience and environment? Are we not asking of the library schools what no other profession expects from its special schools? Do we get our bankers from business colleges, or the managers and presidents of our railroads from schools of engineering?

Some one has said that knowledge is the material with which wisdom builds. The library schools can impart a knowledge of library methods. They can hardly teach the wise use of those methods. They can suggest and illustrate it; but courses of instruction in administrative wisdom are, I fear, an iridescent dream.

The CHAIRMAN: This subject is open to discussion if there is any one who feels moved to contribute to our wisdom.

Mrs. ELMENDORF: Mr. Chairman, may I put in one straw from the outside world to show that other technical concerns are taking up this point of view also. One of the great universities is about to establish a technical school. They have called to the aid of the faculty three men very high in the technical world, all of them having attained great practical success. Those three men have agreed in recommending to the faculty that they reduce the technical hours in the schools, as compared to other technical schools, and devote more time to the humanities.

Dr. BOSTWICK: May I say just a word from the standpoint of one who is interested in the product of the library school, as making use of that product? I do not think this point has been alluded to at all this morning, which is my excuse for intruding it upon you for a moment.

I want to emphasize the value of library schools as selectors, which it seems to me is very great, transcending even, perhaps, their great value as trainers. I know a great many persons who use library school students, who, if they were asked why they preferred one library school to another, would say it was not because the training in that school was so much better, or because the instructors in that school were so much better, but simply because they always got better people from that library school. Why? Because those persons, who exist in great numbers, who are congenitally unfit to become librarians, are not allowed to get into such schools, and, if they do, they are not allowed to graduate. Consequently, if you choose graduates of those particular schools you are always sure of getting good persons. Therefore, I regard the selective function of a library school as extremely valuable. No matter how good the training you give, no matter how good the instructors you have, if you allow people in your schools who are unfitted for library work, your product will be worth little.

Miss RATHBONE: The cap that Mr. Hadley has constructed, fits so well that I could not forbear putting it on. I want to assure you all, however, that its conical shape is not the result of inheritance but of evolution. The curriculum of the particular school I have the honor to be associated with has been a growth, and a growth very largely made up from suggestions, the solicited suggestions, of its own graduates who have worked in the library field. Subjects have been added, others have been omitted, others have been reduced in time given to them, according as our students have found in their practical work that they needed things they did not get, or that certain things that we gave them were not of the greatest practical value. Again and again we have sent out circular letters, and have requested in personal interviews, the frankest possible criticism from our graduates of the preparation that they received in the school. I have seen a great many such letters, and have talked with a great many people. I must confess, however, that I have never yet had the criticism from any of the graduates that too much time was devoted in the school curriculum to cataloging. That criticism may come, and when it does we shall be glad to meet it, but I have not yet happened to receive it.

One other point I want to make, and that is that I think the libraries depend upon library schools for general assistants. That is one reason why a one year school, I think, should give all of its students experience in all of the different departments of library work, because, though after they go out into the field, some become catalogers, some children's librarians, some reference librarians, and a few, administrators of large libraries, the average graduate that goes out, three-fourths of our product certainly goes at first into a public library as a general assistant. The heads of such libraries want assistants who can go one week into the children's room; who, if a shortage occurs in the reference room, can be put there; and if in the meantime the work has piled up in the cataloging department, can be transferred from the children's room, or the reference department, to that department. I think that kind of all-round instruction, and the flexibility that results from it, is one of the most valuable assets that the trained librarian can take with him into general library work.

Dr. HILL: Mr. Chairman, in the first place, I would like to ask Mr. Brett if he will give us the name of the college which is allowing the library course to be taken as part of the rating.

Mr. BRETT: It is the College for Women of the Western Reserve university of Cleveland, and the school that co-operates with it is the Western Reserve library school.

Dr. HILL: In the second place, Mr. Chairman, the note in Mr. Hadley's paper which attracted and arrested my attention, related to men, naturally. Now, I want to say that as mere men we are not afraid of anything, we are not afraid that we are going to be crowded out of the library profession by our women friends, but we are looking around to see that we do not get crowded too much; and this subject of bringing into the profession more men and better men—although I would say to the ladies that there are a good many good men among us still available,—was taken up by the American Library Institute last fall, and presented very clearly by Dr. Dewey. He said in a paper which was submitted to the Institute that it was the duty of the American Library Association to interest the universities so that the work of our association might be brought to the attention of the students, and that we ought to arrange to have lectures given by librarians at the various universities. I became interested in this subject and last winter, talking with a president of one of the Eastern universities, asked if such lectures would be acceptable. He said that he would be very glad as president of that university to extend an invitation to the library association to send representatives there to place before students the advantages of the library profession, and to carry on a course which would enable interested students to direct their work along library lines. He said, further, that he had no doubt but what every college and university in the land would welcome such co-operation. Such being the feeling of the president of one university, it seems to me that it is time for the committee named by Mr. Anderson to take some active measure to have the country divided in such way that librarians in the neighborhood of the various universities will arrange to lecture before the students. I think the matter should be given immediate attention.

Miss KELSO: Mr. Chairman, I have made a study also this last winter, not with college presidents, but with certain members of the graduating class of Columbia university and Harvard university. In the dogma expressed here it seems to me you treat the university graduate, who has had four years' earnest study, as if he were in kilts, and the girl in short skirts. Those men and women have wrested from the college tradition the right to say what they are going to do, in their junior, if not their sophomore year, and to come out after their graduation from economical and sociological courses and to be presented to the curriculum you have, is little short of absurd. Go to the professors at the head of the economics departments of our universities, men or women, and they will tell you that their students have known for two years what they were going to be. I know several undergraduates that, before their graduation, had opportunities of national importance, as executive secretaries, to go in and organize a national office. To ask those fellows, who have been taking volunteer practice work, as numbers of them do, in health department work, in tuberculosis and a thousand and one things, to go and take up this library school curriculum,—they will not. Bring an undergraduate who is in his senior year to talk to you; go to the professor at the head of one of these departments and ask him to send you a young woman or a young man to talk to you about what the aims of their classes and fraternities have been.

I do believe there is a way out, and that is to admit frankly that the library schools can select, as Dr. Hill has well said, and send students to the libraries for the trying-out process, and above all to have the library association show very much more interest and attention to what the library schools are doing. And I can say to you, as an old librarian, that you are reaping what it seemed to me was a whirlwind sowed some years ago. For a long time past, and when we first had the schools, we shut the door on the possible entrance of politics into libraries,—a very serious menace, as we all know. We all rushed forward and talked about the library school, and if a community had a man or woman who could fill the place, who had special literary ability, had been well educated and was proved to have some executive ability, we all roared, "You're lost if you don't take some one who has gone through a library school training." You know we did. And the poor old committee succumbed and got a library school candidate. We cannot prepare librarians unless we relate them to the great field of human endeavor and social affairs to which the library belongs, if it is used in a proper way, and we must find other means in the library association to evolve some system to afford the trying-out process.

Mr. WALTER: Although we get at the matter from different points of view, I am quite certain that Miss Rathbone, Miss Kelso and I are in exact accord on some points. One is in the recognition of the real responsibility for the curricula of library schools. The library school courses are what they are because the libraries want them so. Miss Kelso may probably not be quite so familiar with the special demands of libraries as those who are on library school faculties are. A great demand exists at present along two lines. The most frequent demand, I think, is for college or university graduates, who are masters of every branch of library technic, and who possess as well a wide and extensive knowledge of all subjects, which will make them valuable in varied lines of work and in different departments; in other words, universal specialists. This demand comes repeatedly from the smaller libraries and not infrequently from the larger ones. The library school is forced in many ways to make a concession to that demand and to teach many things rather than a few specialties. I am not sure that the concession is always as great or as harmful as has been asserted, and one reason why I am not so sure of this is because I have been studying the curricula of several schools of philanthropy (whose practical character has just been commended) in order to make some improvements in a proposed course in the institution with which I am connected, and the differences in the general plans of the two kinds of schools are so far from being radical that we have been able to take over many of their specialized ideas and put them in our curriculum, with so little change that I defy you to find where the joints are.

Another demand is for real specialists to put in charge of special departments of large libraries. I believe that demand is growing. But you must remember, if you are going to have them, that two things are necessary. If you want specialists trained in different subjects, you must give them time to get their training and you must pay them enough to attract them and to keep them when you get them.

In an engineering school you have lengthy courses full of engineering technic, because you demand engineers. No good school would cut out that technic simply because you needed an engineering student in your technology department and couldn't afford to wait or to pay for a graduate. Why should we have to stop doing what experience, and the experience of years, has proved necessary, what most of the people who go out of the library schools say is necessary—why should we cut out general subjects simply because of a temporary or limited demand for short-cut semi-specialists? You do not give time to prepare specialists. You are prone to send in a letter on Saturday saying you must have a man in charge of a special department next Tuesday, that he must be a graduate of one of the best technical schools of the country and that he must also have a thorough knowledge of library technic. At present I do not believe there is enough demand for those people to attract many of them, because, these specialists, in most cases, are obliged to come into general library work and to keep in general work until the special positions for which they are particularly fitted become vacant or are created.

I believe thoroughly in the missionary spirit. I believe every librarian ought to have in him the spirit of St. Francis, to enable him, if need be, to go barefoot and get along with almost no food at all, but I do not believe in the right of the public to demand that he work for a salary so small that he must wear the habit and eat the food of St. Francis. If you expect to find these exceptional men you must pay for them and have places ready for them. You cannot expect the impossible. The question of technic is a serious one but it is not going to be solved entirely by omissions and short-cuts.

I might also say that the institution with which I happen to be connected depends very largely, so far as the changes in its curriculum are concerned, on the suggestions of the people who have gone out from the school and who are working in libraries, and it often plans its courses in accordance with what they suggest, as the result of their own experiences. What is more,—and I am not speaking for ourselves only, for similar conditions exist in other schools—in this way we have (among others) the experience of more than thirty men and women who are at the head of libraries in cities of the United States in either the first or the second class.

Mr. JOSEPHSON: It may well be that the present library schools cannot train both librarians and assistants; and perhaps, in consequence, we must have two kinds of school, one school for assistants and one for librarians. However that may be, either school must teach bibliography, and by that I mean the knowledge of the records of books and the art of describing books, so that the one who reads the description may know what the book is. Description includes, of course, not only cataloging but classification and annotation as well.

I would like to supplement Mr. Strohm's paper in one particular. I think it would be well if chief librarians would do something to encourage the continuation of professional studies among the members of their staffs, particularly among the younger members, both those who come from library schools and those who do not. We cannot expect them to study too hard after a full day's work, but I think in most cases we would find that such encouragement would be appreciated. The assistants who are ambitious to go forward would be willing to spend a couple of hours a week on further studies, and it might not be entirely out of the way for the library to allow some time for such work.

Mr. GEORGE: It seems to me that in our discussion today a means of practical relief has been missed by each of the speakers, and that is that the ordinary, customary method of universities be adopted by these library schools, and instead of attempting in a year's time to issue a diploma of doubtful value at best, as representing anything in particular, they should adopt the certificate plan, and allow their course to extend over a sufficient time to guarantee something; have their courses divided up in such a way that a certificate will represent something definite to those of us who want to use library school students. It seems to me in that way we can get some practical value from the schools and get efficient aids and assistants in the library service. The great difficulty about the whole thing is that most library school graduates lack a sufficient background and there is not time in one year's course, naturally, for them to acquire anything of that kind, or an experience that can be of practical value to us. I merely throw this out as a practical hint, because I have been waiting for it to come from some of the speakers. By having a certificate covering part of the ground, either cataloging or some other branch of library service undoubtedly we would be perfectly willing to recognize that as an authoritative guarantee from the schools, rather than a diploma that, as I say, is doubtful at best as representing anything, because of the varying courses and requirements of the different schools.

At the conclusion of this discussion the session adjourned.

FOURTH GENERAL SESSION

(Monday, July 1, 9:30 a. m.)

Dominion Day Program

Dr. James W. Robertson, C.M.G., took the chair, on behalf of the Ottawa local committee, and called the meeting to order.

The CHAIRMAN: Your president has in her genial and successful way insisted that the acting chairman of the local committee should preside on this occasion.

Of most men one might say when they are forty-five they are middle-aged and mature. This is the forty-fifth anniversary of the birth of this Dominion; and Canada is still but a youth, a sturdy, growing, promising youth among the nations. She is a people of great heritages, of lofty aspirations and of fine ideals, and she has in Sir Wilfrid Laurier a son worthy of herself. He will speak to us this morning.

SIR WILFRID LAURIER

SIR WILFRID LAURIER:[4] Though I have no claim whatever to be here on this present occasion, still if my presence on this platform can further convince our American visitors how welcome they are amongst us, I can assure them that I would have traveled many and many a long mile to swell the greeting with the seal and hand of the Canadian government and the Canadian people. Welcome you are, not only for the good work in which you are engaged, not only for the intellectual labors which are your daily vocation, but also because whenever you cross our borders, and whenever the Canadian members of this association cross your borders, you and they are real missionaries of peace, apostles of civilization, and those visits tend further to improve our relations, to dispel old prejudices and to make us appreciate the blessings of the peace which hath prevailed between your country and my country for nearly a hundred years.

[4] Printed only in part.

May I take advantage of the present opportunity to remind you of the fact, which has been twice already brought to your attention, that today is the national holiday of Canada. We celebrate our national holiday on the first of July, you celebrate yours on the fourth of July,—but the resemblance goes no further. The day you celebrate on the fourth of July recalls the fact that your forefathers wrenched and violently tore asunder the tie which had bound them to the motherland. I think I can call upon your memory to confirm that history attests that this step was not taken lightly, that it tore the heart strings of many and many of those who signed the Declaration of Independence, but that it was forced upon them by the vicious policy that was followed toward the colonists by the British government.

Our history is a very different one. The day that we celebrate in Canada recalls no violence. On the contrary we celebrate the day when the authorities of England, King, Lords and Commons, delivered unto us a charter of union, of liberty and of local independence. Thus at the very start our courses were cast in different directions. You are a republic, we are a monarchy. We have kept the old monarchy of England. As to the merits of respective forms of government, republican institutions or monarchical institutions, I would not say a word on this or any other occasion, because this has always seemed to be an idle speculation. We know that the form of government is after all a matter of indifference; we know that there must be a virtue in republicanism, and we Canadians are here to testify that in the monarchy of England there is as ample liberty as there is in any part of the world, not excepting even the American republic.

Proud as I am to say that you have your democratic institutions, we are blessed with institutions more democratic, and we have what Abraham Lincoln called the government of the people, by the people and for the people. I do not mean to say by this, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the people never make mistakes. I speak for my country, not for yours. But speaking for my country, I would say that at that we must not be surprised nor angry, because it is an attribute of mankind, after all, to err.

Though, Ladies and Gentlemen, as I have told you, our lots have been cast apart, though you are one country and we are another, still, after all, we can say with some pride that we have been friends, and better friends we ought to be. Men there are in this country, I am sorry to say, who are rather afraid of you American people. They believe that you have some hostile design upon us; and some of your men have perhaps harbored that thought themselves. But if these views are scattered amongst some of my countrymen, they have not at all scared me; I have no fear at all of the American people. I am not afraid of contact with you. I would not be afraid to trade with you, to sell to you and buy from you, because I believe that after all, proud as you have reason to be of your own nation, we Canadians are just as good as you are.

But, if we cannot trade, if we cannot sell and buy,—and I would not enlarge on this, because I would perhaps trespass on politics,—if we cannot trade and buy from one another, at least we can exchange ideas, sentiments, principles, and this is the very thing which you have been doing in Canada during this last week. To this nobody can object. Ideas and principles can travel freely across the line, and I believe that everybody would be all the better for this interchange. So I have no fear whatever that there should be an absorption of this country by your country. And may I say what is my own ideal?

It seems to me that there is a greater future for Canada, and for the United States. You have your problems and we have enough of our own problems. We can afford to share the continent and we can be, you Americans and we Canadians, the pioneers of a new civilization, a civilization representative of the twentieth century. We can give to the world this example of friendship without hesitation and with perfect confidence in one another. The bane of Europe today is militarism. All the nations of Europe are distrustful of one another; they spend one-half their income for war, in military preparation one against the other. Thank heaven, on this continent, we never think of war with one another. We have the longest frontier that separates two nations, and I thank God there is not a fortress to be found upon it, nor a gun nor a cannon to frown across it. This is the example which we give to the rest of the world. It is certainly an achievement of which we have every reason to be proud; and when you, Ladies and Gentlemen, come over to our country, as you have, you are further instilling the truth of that sentiment, and my last word to you will be, as the first. Come again, come often, and the more often you come the more cordial and warm will be the welcome.

President ELMENDORF: I am quite certain that this audience would be unwilling that some reply should not come from itself. May I ask Mr. R. R. Bowker, whom I see in the box, to reply for the audience?

Mr. BOWKER said, that as he rose to propose on the part of the United States members of the American Library Association a vote of thanks, he wished to express the equal gratification of our fellow members that we have received the hospitality, so unbounded, of the administration of Canada, and especially that we had been thus welcomed by the man whose presence personifies and whose name is a synonym not only for his own party but for United Canada. He said the United States members took only one exception to what he had said, and that was that they used the word "American" in a broader sense than he. The American Library Association means, not the United States, not Canada, but both. We have no United States library association. We may almost hope that there shall be no Canada library association, but we hope that Ontario, with its library association, will be the pioneer to lead its sister provinces into the fellowship and affiliation in which our other associations stand in the American library association.

The speaker said it was not only in the brilliant and eloquent pages of Parkman that the history of the two sister nations was interwoven; that a man from Woburn, Massachusetts, was the first to see what the site of Ottawa meant; that our own Thwaites had brought anew to life the deeds of the Jesuit fathers and early explorers, and that Miss Plummer had personally conducted many thousands of boys and girls of the children's rooms through Canada with her "Roy and Ray."

Mr. Bowker said he supposed we did not rightly recognize Canadian writers in the United States libraries because they were so thoroughly a part of English literature, and that it would be very grateful if some one so good as Mr. Hardy, the secretary of the Ontario library association, could before the close of the meetings give a bird's-eye view of Canadian writers.

"It is a significant coincidence that on this very day there goes into operation throughout the British Empire a law which, if not for the first time, at least most explicitly, recognizes the relationship of the several English nations to the motherland, for the new copyright code which today goes into operation states in so many words that the self-governing dominions of Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa may adopt the imperial act, or modify it to meet their own judicial process, or legislate independently. It is interesting to some of us that this recognition should be so explicitly made in the field of letters."

In closing, the speaker proposed that we express our thanks to our Canadian brethren, our hosts who have been so hospitable, by a rising vote.

Amid hearty applause the entire audience arose.

The CHAIRMAN: Before it became necessary for Dr. Otto Klotz, who was and is chairman of the local committee, to be absent from the city, I had agreed to deliver an address to the convention on Conservation in Canada. The time having come, on the program, for that event, I propose now to tell you a little of what we in Canada are doing to conserve the best we have.

CONSERVATION OF CHARACTER

We are all concerned for the good name of our community, for its reputation and its character. Most of us are concerned for the welfare of our nation, for its place of honor and influence and power among the nations of the earth. Canada is one of the youngest among the self governing peoples. It is only forty-five years since we became a Dominion, and we begin only now to find ourselves as a nation. A people who gain self-government become in reality a nation only when they are animated by some dominant purpose to preserve their ideals by further achievement. The preservation of whatever we have found to be worthy in the past,—the good, the true, and the beautiful,—by using them in everyday life for further accomplishment and attainment,—that is conservation. There have been rotations of nations and of civilizations on the face of the earth, as there have been rotations of crops on the fields of the farm. This year's crop is for its own harvest and also to prepare the land for the crop to follow it. The far foresight which peers thoughtfully into eternity while planning for tomorrow is also a part of conservation.

In common use the word "conservation" becomes a bland and comprehensive expression into which we put all our scattered convictions and aspirations and gropings after what is best for the largest number of people for the longest stretch of time. It took on a new meaning when Theodore Roosevelt used his megaphone on it. And because it is an omnibus with room always for one more,—for one more idea, one more suggestion, one more policy, it becomes mightily popular.

The first concern of conservation is necessarily with natural resources, but it does give a significant purpose to all the activities of a nation and of an individual. The large, inclusive aim of Canada in conservation is that Canada shall be great in the character of her people, great enough to match the matchless heritage that has come to her in blood and ideals, in possessions and institutions, in opportunities and obligations. Canada's contribution to humanity in a large, uplifting way will be in the perfection by a composite people, diverse in origin of race, language and religion,—the perfection by such a people of the finest of all fine arts, the fine art of living happily and prosperously together, while working with intelligent skill and unfaltering will for ends believed to be for the common good. These large ends include the improvement of the material and social setting of every home, the refinement of the inherited quality of life of every child and the reformation from generation to generation of the habits, standards and ideals of the people. All to the end that we may find satisfactions, large, broad and lasting, through invigorating labor, social service and abiding good will amongst ourselves and also extended to all our neighbors.

Let me give you a very brief glimpse, merely an indication, a suggestion, here and there, of what we are trying to do. First of all, a word on what we have in possessions to conserve; then a glimpse or two of what we are doing with our estate; afterwards a glance at what we are seeking for ourselves; and finally a look in on what we stand for as a young people among other kindly and competing nations.

On What We Have

We have a great deal. Never before in the history of the race did seven millions of people have such a heritage come into their free possession. Half a continent wide and a whole continent long,—that is our estate. We are happy in the setting of our national life. A very brief survey of what it means to us and what it is in itself must suffice this morning. Who knows it? I hear people speak of Canada as a red patch on the map, as a stretch of prairies where wheat grows, as the northern fringe of the glorious free republic of the United States. These hardly shed a candle power of light on our estate. Half a continent wide and one-sixth of the way around the globe! If Europe were eleven in area, we are twelve, and much of it habitable, destined to be the setting of fine homes of a robust people.

Let us take Canada in four areas, in thousand-mile stretches. We can afford to speak of ourselves in those dimensions. A thousand miles in from the Atlantic,—where else do you find a better place for homes for a dominant people whose purpose it is to pull up by strength and intelligence and justice and good will, and not to crush down and hold back? Dominant because the human race can be at its best in physique, in endurance, in tenacity, in capacity, in aspiration, where apple trees grow in beauty and bounty and the summer air is full of the fragrance of clover blossoms. Think back through your books, and over the globe, and into the lives of the people. Recall the old stories, the apple trees of Eden and the land flowing with milk and honey. After all, physical setting means much for the glory of human life. This is a fine stretch of a thousand miles for homes, of apple trees and clover blossoms with plenty of running water, with skies decked in beauty by clouds, with showers and sunshine in alternate abundance, and farm houses with yards full of children rolling on the grass picking flowers and climbing the apple trees. That is worth while,—to have a thousand miles filling up with homes, willing for more to come and share their joy.

Then we have a thousand miles of wilderness, a great reservoir north of the Great Lakes. It tempts the adventurous to seek gold and silver; great areas for trees, and lakes to refresh the thirsty land on both sides by the genial droppings from the rains gathered from the wastes.

Then come a thousand miles of prairies, stretching out to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It took a thousand times a thousand years to make that place fit for our possession and habitation now. The frugality of prodigal nature was storing in the soil plant food for crops for thousands of years, not that men might ship wheat, but that boys and girls should have the finest chance that the race had known hitherto to be a strong, dominant, lovely and loving people. A thousand miles of prairies! Why do your people flock over to those prairies? Not for greed of money. I have been enough in the States to know that you libel yourselves in one unkind way. You say the American worships the almighty dollar. Chase the charge down and he wants the dollar for the sake of a home, for the pleasure of conquest, for the worship of some boy or girl, to give him and her a better footing and a better start. The call of Canada is not merely from property and a chance to get it. The call of Canada is the call of a wide chance for possessions, for a piece of good land to own for oneself. It is also the call of the land where law is respected, as well as obeyed. It is most loudly and convincingly the call of a land with chances for children. That is what pulls them here, the chances for children; and these newcomers are amongst the foremost of those who see that the biggest and best and best-sustained building in the place is the public school.

Then we have five hundred miles, half a thousand, going over the mountains to the Pacific Ocean. It is a piece of the great Creator's fine art in the rough, with the impressiveness of nature's majesty and the instability which endures. Tucked in between the mountains are fertile valleys with peaches and plums and wheat and all good things to sustain the homes. A great asset is that five-hundred mile strip, the mountains pregnant with coal and gold and silver, and the streams teeming with fish from the inexhaustible feeding places of the north.

That is a glimpse, merely the head-lines, of our national home, our real estate; and we believe the people will be quite a match for it. We come to feel the responsibility for that now.

Only a word or two of detail. We have forests in vast areas, some of them as yet unsurveyed, and a climate and soil which lets nature far more than restore the lumberman's cut. Our forests are inexhaustible in the abundance of their serving power for coming generations; now that we have begun to conserve them by preventing fires, by providing patrols, and also by diffusing knowledge, training and conviction throughout the common schools. Then we have fisheries. Many of you come up here and regale your friends for evenings afterwards by fish stories. I speak of the great value to Canada of fish and fishing. When I go to the coasts, how I glory in the conservation of life by fishing! I fish a little. One of my pawky friends once gave me a book called "Fishin' Jimmy." It had one sentence with which I comfort myself when I feel disposed to fish when I should be otherwise diligently employed. It was this, "Young man, the good Lord, when He needed fellows to help Him for the biggest job ever taken up, picked out chaps who caught fish." Think of Nova Scotia, the fishing smacks, the men who are not afraid, those who go down to the deep in ships, they see the wonders of the Lord while they do their duty for their families. There is conservation of the quality of life by the un-boasting and the uncomplaining, heroic commonplaces of daily toil. With quiet tenacity, against conditions of discomfort which cannot be escaped, and carelessness of personal ease such men teach us how to live. Then we have waterways, and water powers, not merely to illuminate houses and run cars, but to enlarge leisure by having our heaviest tasks done by man's further alliance with the electric current. Then we have minerals and lands. Each of these merits more than a discourse for itself. I feel the incompleteness, the insufficiency, of my statements of our resources and our efforts towards conservation. However, just a word about lands, good land and fertile land.

Take an example, one only. Seager Wheeler lives north of Regina. How our hearts go out in sympathy to those people who suffer from nature's inhuman manifestation of her strength. (A reference to the Regina cyclone of the day before.) I have not learned to look up through nature's devastations to nature's God, but I have learned to look through human life to man's God,—Whose tender mercies are over all His other works. Seager Wheeler lives north of Regina. Out at the Experimental Farm, where we were on Saturday, Dr. Saunders, patiently, quietly, modestly, brought together a strain of wheat from Calcutta and a strain of wheat from the North-West. A new child is born unto us in Wheatland. Seager Wheeler gets some of that wheat and begins the process of selection on his own farm, "the best out of the best for the best." Last autumn I was in New York at the back-to-the-land exposition. A thousand dollar prize in gold was there for the man who would bring the best bushel of wheat from anywhere on the continent. The judges were expert men from the United States, and Seager Wheeler from the middle of our North-West plains won the thousand dollar prize for his bushel of wheat from that part of our land. More than that, I have a photograph of the plot from which this bushel of wheat was taken, and it measured up 80 2-3 bushels to the acre. No wonder we think well of our land, and you folks want to get some of it.

One other sentence only, otherwise I should be beguiled into talking far too long about our lands. In these days, dangerous in their clamors for bigness and swiftness and luxury, one needs to remind himself that satisfactions do not come from these things, but from honest labor whereby one conserves the strength and beauty of some part of nature and man, and develops power and joy in another unit of nature and man, making the earth and man rejoice together. Truly a nation's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things it possesseth.

On What We Are Doing

We in Canada are happy in the occupations of the people, as well as in the setting of our lives. What has occupation to do with conservation? Occupation conserves the best that humanity has achieved in human beings themselves. Not books? It would be a loss if all the books were taken from us,—it would be a loss somewhat modified by the advantages. But whosoever will offend one of these little ones in whom is conserved all the achievements and attainments of the race to this day, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck. The menace of books is that they sometimes crush down and crush out the aspiration of young life for joy in constructive, creative, co-operative labor, through merely selfish, silent reading for gratification. We are happy in the occupations of our people that minister to greatness in character. A new country like ours needs the constructing and conquering qualities, more than the sedentary, absorbing, remembering capacities. The farmer follows one of the conquering, constructive occupations, gathering wealth out of the otherwise chaos. His labor creates wealth and conserves the health and virility of the people. What a grudge I have against the modern factory that, in making things, debases men. I do my thinking aloud in a meeting like this. Therefore I do not flatter. I will warrant we should not have women, as I have seen them, working in factories, with poor air and little sunshine amid the infernal rattle of machinery, if we believed in our heart of hearts that things were for homes and that good homes for all the people was the dominant object of a strong nation. Why should I have cloth in my house because it is cheap—when it is transfused by the blood of women in Leeds? Why should I want a coat on my back that carries with it the stain of tears from children who have had no chance? Why should I walk easily in boots, factory-made in order that they may be a dollar a pair cheaper, when I have seen women atrophied by the monotonous poverty of their job who should have been mothering a family and nursing the aspirations of young people? We do not want to have things, things, things as our idols and our end in life.

The fundamental occupations which engage the large majority of our people are farming, making homes and teaching and training the young. The farm, the rural home and the rural school together provide the opportunities and means of culture in forms which children and grown people can turn into power—power of knowledge, of action and of character. Farming is much more than moving soil, sowing grain, destroying weeds and harvesting crops. It is taking care of part of the face of Mother Earth as a home for her children. Making homes is much more than building houses and providing furniture, food, clothing and things. It is creating a temple, not made with hands, as a place of culture for the Divine in us. Those who live by agriculture are not all of the earth earthy, and the rural home is a fine school for the soul. Teaching and training the young is much more than instructing children in the arts of reading, writing and reckoning—those flexible, useful tools of the intellect. Much of the time of the school has been consumed in these tasks; but now we come to a happier day when those arts can be acquired joyfully in less than a year and a half, instead of painfully, reluctantly and with difficulty as spread over six years. The main portion of the school time will soon be devoted to caring for the health, the habits and the standards of the pupils while watching and directing the development of their powers of body, mind and spirit.

These three fundamental mothering occupations in Canada nourish and sustain all the others, such as commerce, manufacturing, transportation and the professions. By means of them, followed as well as they can be by an educated and cultured people, the country will be kept prosperous and fertile. It can be made beautiful only by radiant homes, whence youth will go forth from generation to generation to refine life by their characters, to exalt it by their ideals and to improve its conditions by intelligent labor.

I must say a word or two as to whence we got the impetus, the stimulus, towards conservation. Intelligent, conscious, planned and organized effort for conservation came to us from Washington. We are the Washington of the North in more ways than one, and I think I express, if I may venture to do so, the hope and conviction of my friend Sir Wilfrid Laurier when I say that, a hundred years hence and less, the Washington of the North will be more than abreast of the Washington of the South because of the influence, the moulding influence, of climate and homes and schools such as we in this country will have. But the Washington of the South had a great gathering in 1908, when the Governors of all the States and others were assembled to consider conservation. I read the report of the proceedings with some care. Then I turned more than once to read, right after it, an old classic about a gathering in the time of King Ahasuerus, the gathering of the governors of 127 provinces. And I laid down the Bible with the conviction that that Ahasuerus assembly was no higher in its essence and in its fruits than a pow-wow debauch of Indian chiefs on the plains. Take the setting and the spirit of the Ahasuerus crowd—self-seeking, careless of human rights, neglectful of children's claims. That story was worth recording as a great exhibition of monstrous selfishness, the thing itself—worth avoiding, worth opposing, worth smiting to the death every time it rears its ugly greedy head. On the other hand, consider Washington. The governors of sovereign states come together, for what? Not to consider how they might enrich themselves at the expense of the weak and those in their care, but how they might conserve for all the people, the property of all the people, for the benefit of all the people, for the longest stretch of time. That was a great gathering. It will go down in history as marking a new epoch in human activity and endeavor. And whatever may be said amid the transient controversies of party politics, the name of Theodore Roosevelt will stand out illustrious for leadership in a new effort for conservation that saves, not merely forests and material resources, but that saves moral earnestness among the people. I have no sympathy, myself, with your own harsh criticism of these political conventions you are holding now in the States. Not being a politician, I can speak of politics without fear. May I tell you what my thinking has been? Perhaps only twice before did the United States ever get such service, such an awakening—when you had the struggle for liberty, and, afterwards, the war for freedom. What means the present commotion which bursts through conventional conventions of polite speech? Is it not that you shall be saved from a supine sense of satisfaction with having only things—from the loss of great concepts of justice and right aflame in moral earnestness? I rejoice with you that we are indebted to Washington for impetus and stimulus in moral earnestness regarding forests and other resources. That is Gifford Pinchot's contribution—not to make lumber cheap, but to make the land fertile and prosperous, that boys and girls may be beautiful and strong and glad. Worth while is the moral earnestness that uses materials only as the mechanism of its efforts for the improvement of life.

Then Canadians attended officially another meeting in Washington in 1909, came back and Parliament instituted a Commission of Conservation. That Commission has been at work for three years seeking to serve our people by showing how they could improve themselves as well as their circumstances through effort to conserve their resources.

On the Provincial experimental farm in Wellington County, Ont., Professor Zavitz works. He took thin, light grains from a variety of oats, and sowed those by themselves; and, from the same variety, he took plump, heavy, dark grains, and sowed these by themselves. For twelve years he followed that plan on the same soil, under the same climate, with the same management. At the end of twelve years the crop from this plump seed rose by twenty-six bushels more to the acre and ten and a half pounds more to the bushel than the crop from the poor seed. That was conservation secured by intelligent application and good management. You can do that with life as well as with seed and with land. The long distance aim as well as the local object of conservation is to make Canada a better country to live in and a more beautiful country to love; and to make Canadians a people of greater vigor, finer texture and nobler character.

On What We Are Seeking