Pamphlets
Save all pamphlets having to do with local history, and save also
those of a general nature which promise ever to be of any importance.
In a small library, however, or in any library in which money for
salaries is limited, and the work to be done in the regular matter of
attending to the public, lending books, etc., is great, do not waste
time in trying to arrange or catalog pamphlets. Simply let them
accumulate, arranging them roughly in classes. Bind at once only
those that seem absolutely to demand it. In the history of almost any
library the time will come when it will be possible to sort out
pamphlets, arrange them properly, catalog such as are worth it, bind
them singly or in groups, and incorporate them into the library. But
any system of arranging and sorting pamphlets which does anything
more than very roughly to arrange and store them, and attempts to make
them, without much labor, accessible to the general public, is almost
sure to be a failure. This is not true of pamphlets to which the
public has not access. But pamphlets not fully cataloged and not
accessible to the public are, no matter how scientifically arranged,
almost useless plunder. To keep them clean and in order nothing is
as good as a pamphlet case, which any boxmaker can make, of cardboard
about 9 inches high, 7 inches deep, and 2 inches thick, open at the
back. They will cost from 4 to 12 cents each, according to quality of
board used and quantity ordered. For holding a few pamphlets together
temporarily Ballard's "klips" are best. Sold by H.H. Ballard,
Pittsfield, Mass.
[Illustration: L.B. pamphlet case. (Various sizes.)]