1. As to manners--is a parlor, not a bar-room; a place where not only
working men and business men, but ladies and young girls can safely and
conveniently come and abide. While not expressly a school of manners and
morals, it is much and closely concerned in maintaining a high standard
in both.
2. As to objects--is to furnish good books, not bad ones; to satisfy
within this limit all demands on it as far as may be; and in particular
to be progressive; that is, to supply for intelligent readers what they
most require,--the _new_ good books.
3. As to method--should keep the books in the best possible condition
for the longest possible term of use, and should not allow them to be
scattered, lost, abused, mutilated, or stolen.
Lastly. It is needless to add, under these heads, any of the numerous
technical details which crowd the work of an active library; but this
exposition would be inexcusably imperfect without a reference to the
absolute indispensableness of proper quarters in order to successful
library administration. Only the merest reference need now be made to
the professional immorality of notorious localities close around this
library in its present place. Something more may be said of the
unbusinesslike payment by the city of a heavy insurance on $50,000 worth
of its property, which must be paid, because the library is in the same
building with a theatre. Theatres burn down on an average once in
seventeen years; and a theatre risk, although not absolutely uninsurable
like a gunpowder mill, is what insurance men call "extra hazardous;" so
that not only is the insurance rate high, but the destruction by fire of
the library (in its present location) may be looked upon as certain, the
only question being, How soon?
A difficulty less obvious and less dangerous, but still a source of
constant friction and annoyance, is the present arrangement of the
library as one collection, with but one place for delivering books. In a
small library, with a small business, this difficulty becomes nothing;
but in one as large and as energetically active as this it is a serious
disadvantage. Such a library imperatively requires division into two
libraries or sections, one to contain all books deliverable without
discrimination; the other, all books calling for special care and
precaution of any kind. The receipt and delivery desks of these two
sections should be separate, and before and behind them there should be
plenty of room. In the present library, which is in one large undivided
hall, the space is insufficient, both for the public and for the library
staff; and books of the two classes above described are intermingled all
over the shelves. The result is, crowding, interruption, delay, error,
confusion, and dissatisfaction. Very many books might be trusted with a
studious mechanic or a literary student which it would be a folly to
deliver into the hands of a small boy or girl. Many other extremely
desirable objects would be gained by the occupancy of properly arranged
library quarters; but of these only two need be mentioned here; separate
quarters could be provided for students who need special facilities and
assistance, and there could be such arrangements that ladies using the
library need not crowd and struggle about among impatient children and
miscellaneous masculine strangers.