Early material on this ancient function of libraries, so
widely extended and developed of late, is hard to find. Only
two papers are given here. The first, by Samuel S. Green, is
part of an address delivered at the dedication of the Haston
Free Public Library Building in North Brookfield, Mass.,
printed in _The Library Journal_ for July, 1896. A sketch of
Mr. Green appears in Vol. I. of this series.
The ideal library is one which invites everybody who has a question to
ask, which books contain answers to, to come to the library and put his
question, with the assurance that he will be kindly received, his
question sympathetically considered, and every effort made to find the
answer desired.
I cannot better illustrate what I mean by saying that libraries should
be bureaus of information than by giving instances of inquiries recently
made in the library under my charge and explaining how those inquiries
were met. I will select questions which were answered by sending out of
town for books, and thus illustrate in addition the fact that libraries
administered on advanced principles help one another.
A man came to me not long since and asked by what means he could
dissolve a certain gum which he mentioned. I had the United States
Dispensatory brought. The man did not find the answer wished for in that
work, but did find a reference to a volume of the _Pharmaceutical
Journal_. We did not have a set of that periodical; so I said that I
would send away to borrow the desired volume. I sent to the librarian of
the medical library in Boylston place, Boston, for it. He sent it to me
immediately by express. That volume contained some of the information
desired by the inquirer, but not all that he wanted. There was another
volume of the same periodical which he thought would contain the facts
which he was in search of. I sent for that, promising to return both
volumes at once. The second volume was immediately received. That
contained just what was wanted.
By doing work like this a librarian may do much to add to the prosperity
of the industries of a town.
Another man came to me to inquire whether we had a catalog of a certain
southern society which purported to do hospital work.
I found that we had no catalog of the society named. It appeared that
the applicant for information had been asked to contract to do $4000
worth of work for a society of the name mentioned and wished to learn
something about its standing. I told him that if I were in his place I
should write to a gentleman in Washington, whose name I gave him, who
knows all about medical institutions and hospitals throughout the
country, to ask him about the society; I offered to write, myself, as
the applicant felt timid about writing.
I did write and soon had the answer that the correspondent would advise
the Worcester man to be very cautious about entering into a contract,
for he knew nothing about the existence of such a society. I hope that I
helped to save a Worcester business man from loss on this occasion.
Again, a boy who came into Worcester to school called at the library to
ask me what I could tell his brother about a school for instruction in
tanning leather in Freiberg, Saxony. Did it receive Americans? what was
the cost of attending its sessions? what was its curriculum? etc., were
questions asked.
I had no pamphlet to give the required information, but suggested that
the Commissioner of Education at Washington be written to, to find out
what information could be found in the library of his office. I found
that it would be necessary for me to write the letter; so I wrote it.
Soon the answer came giving the information desired and stating the
address of the school. The answer was passed over to the applicant, with
the suggestion that if further information were desired he should write
to the officers of the school.
I remember doing much to start in her studies a resident of Worcester
who has since become a distinguished Russian scholar, by helping her to
get a Russian-German dictionary from abroad and by borrowing Russian
books for her to read from Harvard College Library.
Three students of the Chinese language have received assistance at my
library, one a missionary at home on leave, the other two students under
the late Chinese professor of Harvard University, from dictionaries and
other books borrowed for their use.
I have had occasion to hunt up books in the language of the Exquimaux
for the use of an investigator in Worcester. I could not find the books
in the libraries of Harvard University or Columbia College, and tried
the libraries of other centres of learning without success, when I
remembered that Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, the well-known Indian scholar
and historical student, had brought together a fine collection of
philological works in the Watkinson Library at Hartford, Connecticut.
The librarian of that library wrote me after a few days, saying that he
had the books and would send them at once. He apologized for not
despatching them before, saying that the library did not allow books to
be taken out. He had waited to consult the president. The president had
said that they must set aside the rule if Mr. Green and the library in
Worcester wanted the books, for it was evident that they were needed for
some important purpose. We got the books and they were used in the
preparation of a learned paper.
Now, for closing illustrations, let me show you how libraries at great
distances help one another. I will choose the relations of the library
in Worcester to the Public Library of Denver, Colorado. Mr. Dana, the
librarian of that library, sent to me to borrow one of the publications
of the Browning Society of London. It was sent to him by registered mail
and returned, safely, in the same way.
Next he wanted, for some student of mining, an extract from one of the
volumes of the _Comptes Rendus_ of the French Academy. The extract was
copied from the volume and sent to him. There has since occurred the
following transaction. A gentleman in Chicago had written to Mr. Dana,
in Denver, to ask him whether he knew of a translation of the report of
a government railroad commission in Holland which had recently been
engaged in considering what kinds of paint are best to use in preserving
iron, and whether he could tell him where to find the results of certain
experiments which had been made in one of the bureaus of the U.S. Navy
Department. Mr. Dana passed along the question to me, knowing that I had
often to answer questions of that kind. In order to find an answer to
the first question, I at once set a young man at work looking at the
indexes of the late volumes of the _Railroad and Engineering Journal_,
and soon an important article was unearthed giving the results of the
investigations of the Dutch commission. This piece of information was
sent to Denver. I then wrote to Mr. Henry C. Baird, the Philadelphia
publisher, to see if he knew of the publication of a translation of the
report. He wrote back that he did not know of the publication of such a
translation, but that there was a long article on paints useful in the
preservation of iron in one of the most recently issued volumes of
Spons's "Receipts." He promised, however, to make further inquiries. So
he went to the rooms of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences and
inquired there what gentleman in the city was most likely to have the
information sought for. He was referred to some one connected with the
Pennsylvania Railroad Co., who told him that he was not aware that the
report had been translated, but referred the inquirer to an elaborate
article extending through several numbers of the well-known periodical,
_Iron_. Mr. Baird transmitted the information he had got to me and I
sent it and other pieces of information gained since my last letter to
the library of Denver. The information sent to Denver was sent to
Chicago. So by the aid of two far separated librarians a person in
Chicago, an intermediate city, distant from the homes of both, received
information which he desired through Denver, Worcester, and
Philadelphia. For an answer to his second question, this inquirer from
Chicago was referred to the Navy Department at Washington.
A clergyman in Colorado Springs, and this is a final illustration,
applied to the librarian of the same public Library in Denver for an old
book by Goldwin Smith. He referred him to me. I knew him, having met him
on my way to California. To my surprise I found we did not own the book.
So I wrote to Mr. Winsor, the Librarian of Harvard University, and told
him that the applicant could be trusted and would make good use of the
information afforded him, and that he needed the book in preparing a
course of lectures which he was to give at once at Colorado College in
Colorado Springs. Then I asked Mr. Winsor if he felt at liberty to lend
the book. The next thing I heard in regard to the matter, a letter came
from the gentleman in Colorado Springs thanking me for the aid rendered,
and saying that Mr. Winsor had sent the book and that it had reached him
just in time to use in preparing a lecture. The library in the United
States which was earliest in the field in doing the work of lending to
other libraries systematically and on a large scale, in so far as I
know, was that of the Surgeon-General's Office in Washington, long
administered so intelligently and with so keen an eye for usefulness by
Dr. John S. Billings.
Now, how can libraries in towns of the size of North Brookfield become
bureaus of information?
Let them approach as nearly as they can to the ideal of seeing to it
that everybody needing information gets it.
The first thing to do is to let it be understood that a library desires
to have inquirers come to it for information, and that its librarian is
ready to take time to find out whether the library contains books which
will give the information desired.
If it does not have the needed books, the librarian tries to think where
they can be had. Does anybody in town own them? If not, can they be had
from a library in a neighboring town?
If these resources are not adequate, then let the librarian send to the
nearest large centre to borrow books from the library there to answer
the questions asked. Worcester would be the natural centre for North
Brookfield to send to.
Individuals should not send to Worcester, but the librarian, having
exhausted resources at hand, should send for the books, the library
agreeing, of course, to make good damage and loss and pay the cost of
carriage. An out-of-town librarian does not know the individual users of
a library in a smaller town, but the librarian in that town does know
his constituency and for whom it is safe to borrow books. Libraries
should lend to one another, but the work of lending should be
systematic.
As a member of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, I
wish to say that the commission likes to come into close contact with
the libraries of the state, and that the smaller libraries may from time
to time find it helpful to put questions to its chairman at the state
house in Boston, in person, through a representative, or by letter,
about library administration.
People are breaking away from their leaders to-day. There is an
immense amount of crude thought and imperfect information in every
community. I verily believe that not least among the instrumentalities
by which thought may be matured and knowledge completed are public
libraries when administered as bureaus of information by accomplished
and earnest librarians, who will act as sympathetic friends and advisers
to inquirers and help them to look at all sides of questions and form
well-grounded judgments.