PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
Libraries may broadly be divided into Public and Private, and as private
libraries will vary according to the special idiosyncrasies of their
owners, so still more will public libraries vary in character according to
the public they are intended for. The answer therefore to the
question--How to form a Public Library?--must depend upon the character of
the library which it is proposed to form. Up to the period when free town
libraries were first formed, collections of books were usually intended
for students; but when the Public Libraries' Acts were passed, a great
change took place, and libraries being formed for general readers, and
largely with the object of fostering the habit of reading, an entirely
new idea of libraries came into existence. The old idea of a library was
that of a place where books that were wanted could be found, but the new
idea is that of an educational establishment, where persons who know
little or nothing of books can go to learn what to read. The new idea has
naturally caused a number of points to be discussed which were never
thought of before.
But even in Town Libraries there will be great differences. Thus in such
places as Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, the Free Libraries should
be smaller British Museums, and in this spirit their founders have worked;
but in smaller and less important towns a more modest object has to be
kept in view, and the wants of readers, more than those of consulters of
books, have to be considered.
Mr. Beriah Botfield has given a very full account of the contents of the
libraries spread about the country and associated with the different
Cathedrals in his _Notes on the Cathedral Libraries of England_, 1849.
These libraries have mostly been formed upon the same plan, and consist
very largely of the works of the Fathers, and of old Divinity. Some
contain also old editions of the classics, and others fine early editions
of English authors. In former times these libraries were much neglected,
and many of the books were lost; but the worst instance of injury to a
library occurred at Lincoln at the beginning of the present century, when
a large number of Caxtons, Pynsons, Wynkyn de Wordes, etc., were sold to
Dr. Dibdin, and modern books purchased for the library with the proceeds.
Dibdin printed a list of his treasures under the title of "The Lincolne
Nosegay." Mr. Botfield has reprinted this catalogue in his book.
The first chapter of the _United States Report on Public Libraries_ is
devoted to Public Libraries a hundred years ago. Mr. H.E. Scudder there
describes some American libraries which were founded in the last century.
One of these was the Loganian Library of Philadelphia. Here is an extract
from the will of James Logan, the founder--
"In my library, which I have left to the city of Philadelphia for the
advancement and facilitating of classical learning, are above one hundred
volumes of authors, in folio, all in Greek, with mostly their versions.
All the Roman classics without exception. All the Greek mathematicians,
viz. Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy, both his Geography and Almagest, which I
had in Greek (with Theon's Commentary, in folio, above 700 pages) from my
learned friend Fabricius, who published fourteen volumes of his
_Bibliothèque Grecque_, in quarto, in which, after he had finished his
account of Ptolemy, on my inquiring of him at Hamburgh, how I should find
it, having long sought for it in vain in England, he sent it to me out of
his own library, telling me it was so scarce that neither prayers nor
price could purchase it; besides, there are many of the most valuable
Latin authors, and a great number of modern mathematicians, with all the
three editions of Newton, Dr. Watts, Halley, etc." The inscription on the
house of the Philadelphia Library is well worthy of repetition here. It
was prepared by Franklin, with the exception of the reference to himself,
which was inserted by the Committee.
Be it remembered,
in honor of the Philadelphia youth
(then chiefly artificers),
that in MDCCXXXI
they cheerfully,
at the instance of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,
one of their number,
instituted the Philadelphia Library,
which, though small at first,
is become highly valuable and extensively useful,
and which the walls of this edifice
are now destined to contain and preserve:
the first stone of whose foundation
was here placed
the thirty-first day of August, 1789.
Mr. F.B. Perkins, of the Boston Public Library, contributed to the _Report
on Public Libraries in the United States_ a useful chapter on "How to make
Town Libraries successful" (pp. 419-430). The two chief points upon which
he lays particular stress, and which may be said to form the texts for his
practical remarks, are: (1) that a Public Library for popular use must be
managed not only as a literary institution, but also as a business
concern; and (2) that it is a mistake to choose books of too thoughtful or
solid a character. He says, "It is vain to go on the principle of
collecting books that people ought to read, and afterwards trying to coax
them to read them. The only practical method is to begin by supplying
books that people already want to read, and afterwards to do whatever
shall be found possible to elevate their reading tastes and habits."
A series of articles on "How to Start Libraries in Small Towns" was
published in the _Library Journal_ (vol. i. pp. 161, 213, 249, 313, 355,
421), and Mr. Axon's _Hints on the Formation of Small Libraries_ has
already been mentioned. We must not be too rigid in the use of the term
Public Libraries, and we should certainly include under this description
those institutional Libraries which, although primarily intended for the
use of the Members of the Societies to which they belong, can usually be
consulted by students who are properly introduced.
Of Public Libraries first in order come the great libraries of a nation,
such as the British Museum. These are supplied by means of the Copyright
Law, but the librarians are not from this cause exonerated from the
troubles attendant on the formation of a library. There are old books and
privately printed and foreign books to be bought, and it is necessary that
the most catholic spirit should be displayed by the librarians. The same
may be said in a lesser degree of the great libraries of the more
important towns.
In England the Universities have noble libraries, more especially those of
Oxford and Cambridge, but although some colleges possess fine collections
of books, college libraries are not as a rule kept up to a very high
standard. The United States Report contains a full account of the college
libraries in America (pp. 60-126).
The libraries of societies are to a large extent special ones, and my
brother, the late Mr. B.R. Wheatley, in a paper read before the Conference
of Librarians, 1877, entitled "Hints on Library Management, so far as
relates to the Circulation of Books," particularly alluded to this fact.
He wrote, "Our library is really a medical and surgical section of a great
Public Library. Taking the five great classes of literature, I suppose
medicine and its allied sciences may be considered as forming a thirtieth
of the whole, and, as our books number 30,000, we are, as it were, a
complete section of a Public Library of nearly a million volumes in
extent."
The United States Report contains several chapters on special libraries,
thus chapter 2 is devoted to those of Schools and Asylums; 4, to
Theological Libraries; 5, to Law; 6, to Medical; and 7, to Scientific
Libraries. For the formation of special libraries, special bibliographies
will be required, and for information on this subject reference should be
made to Chapter VI. of the present work.
When we come to deal with the Free Public Libraries, several ethical
questions arise, which do not occur in respect to other libraries. One of
the most pressing of these questions refers to the amount of Fiction read
by the ordinary frequenters of these libraries.
This point is alluded to in the United States Report on Public Libraries.
Mr. J.P. Quincy, in the chapter on Free Libraries (p. 389), writes,
"Surely a state which lays heavy taxes upon the citizen in order that
children may be taught to read is bound to take some interest in what they
read; and its representatives may well take cognizance of the fact that an
increased facility for obtaining works of sensational fiction is not the
special need of our country at the close of the first century of its
independence." He mentions a free library in Germanstown, Pa., sustained
by the liberality of a religious body, and frequented by artisans and
working people of both sexes. It had been in existence six years in 1876,
and then contained 7000 volumes. No novels are admitted into the library.
The following is a passage from the librarian's report of 1874: "In
watching the use of our library as it is more and more resorted to by the
younger readers of our community, I have been much interested in its
influence in weaning them from a desire for works of fiction. On first
joining the library, the new comers often ask for such books, but failing
to procure them, and having their attention turned to works of interest
and instruction, in almost every instance they settle down to good reading
and cease asking for novels. I am persuaded that much of this vitiated
taste is cultivated by the purveyors to the reading classes, and that they
are responsible for an appetite they often profess to deplore, but
continue to cater to, under the plausible excuse that the public will have
such works."
Mr. Justin Winsor in chapter 20 (Reading in Popular Libraries) expresses a
somewhat different view. He writes, "Every year many young readers begin
their experiences with the library. They find all the instructive reading
they ought to have in their school books, and frequent the library for
story books. These swell the issues of fiction, but they prevent the
statistics of that better reading into which you have allured the older
ones, from telling as they should in the average."
At the London Conference of Librarians (1877), Mr. P. Cowell, Librarian of
the Liverpool Public Library, read a paper on the admission of Fiction in
Free Public Libraries, where he discussed the subject in a very fair
manner, and deplored the high percentage of novel reading in these
libraries. At the Second Annual Meeting of the Library Association (1879)
Mr. J. Taylor Kay, Librarian of Owens College, Manchester, in his paper on
the Provision of Novels in Rate-supported Libraries, more completely
condemned this provision. He concluded his paper with these words:
"Clearly a hard and fast line must be drawn. A distinct refusal by the
library committees to purchase a single novel or tale would be appreciated
by the rate-payers. The suggestion of a sub-committee to read this
literature would not be tolerated, and no man whose time is of value would
undergo the infliction. The libraries would attain their true position,
and the donations would certainly be of a higher class, if the aims of the
committees were known to be higher. Manchester has already curtailed its
issues of novels. It has been in the vanguard on the education question:
and let us hope it will be true to its traditions, to its noble impulses,
and lead the van in directing the educational influence of the free
libraries, and striking out altogether any expenditure in the
dissemination of this literature."
This question probably would not have come to the front if it were not
that the educational value of Free Libraries, as the complement of Board
Schools, has been very properly put forward by their promoters. With this
aim in view, it does startle one somewhat to see the completely
disproportionate supply of novels in the Free Libraries. This often rises
to 75 per cent. of the total supply, and in some libraries even a higher
percentage has been reached. There are, however, exceptions. At the
Baltimore Peabody Institute Fiction did not rise to more than one-tenth of
the total reading. The following are some figures of subjects circulated
at that library above 1000:--
Belles Lettres 4598
Fiction 3999
Biography 2003
Greek and Latin Classics 1265
History (American) 1137
Law 1051
Natural History 1738
Theology 1168
Periodicals (Literary) 4728
Periodicals (Scientific) 1466
Mr. Cowell says that during the year ending 31st August, 1877, 453,585
volumes were issued at the reference library alone (Liverpool Free Public
Library); of these 170,531 were strictly novels. The high-percentage of
novel reading is not confined to Free Public Libraries, for we find that
in the Odd Fellows' Library of San Francisco, in 1874, 64,509 volumes of
Prose Fiction were lent out of a total of 78,219. The other high figures
being Essays, 2280; History, 1823; Biography and Travels, 1664. In the
College of the City of New York, of the books taken out by students
between Nov. 1876, and Nov. 1877, 1043 volumes were Novels, the next
highest numbers were Science, 153; Poetry, 133; History, 130.[15]
In considering this question one naturally asks if the masterpieces of our
great authors, which every one should read, are to be mixed up with the
worthless novels constantly being published in the condemnation of
Fiction; but, to some extent, both Mr. Cowell and Mr. Kay answer this. The
first of these gentlemen writes: "As to the better class novels, which are
so graphic in their description of places, costumes, pageantry, men, and
events, I regret to say that they are not the most popular with those who
stand in need of their instructive descriptions. I could generally find
upon the library shelves 'Harold,' 'The Last of the Barons,' 'Westward
Ho!' 'Hypatia,' 'Ivanhoe,' 'Waverley,' 'Lorna Doone,' etc., when not a
copy of the least popular of the works of Mrs. Henry Wood, 'Ouida,' Miss
Braddon, or Rhoda Broughton were to be had." Mr. Kay corroborates this
opinion in his paper.
Most of us recognize the value of honest fiction for children and the
overwrought brains of busy men, but the reading of novels of any kind can
only be justified as a relaxation, and it is a sad fact that there is a
large class of persons who will read nothing but novels and who call all
other books dry reading. Upon the minds of this class fiction has a most
enervating effect, and it is not to be expected that ratepayers will
desire to increase this class by the indiscriminate supply of novels to
the Free Libraries. Some persons are so sanguine as to believe that
readers will be gradually led from the lower species of reading to the
higher; but there is little confirmation of this hope to be found in the
case of the confirmed novel readers we see around us.
The librarian who, with ample funds for the purpose, has the duty before
him of forming a Public Library, sets forward on a pleasant task. He has
the catalogues of all kinds of libraries to guide him, and he will be able
to purchase the groundwork of his library at a very cheap rate, for
probably at no time could sets of standard books be bought at so low a
price as now. Many books that are not wanted by private persons are
indispensable for a Public Library, and there being little demand for them
they can be obtained cheap. When the groundwork has been carefully laid,
then come some of the difficulties of collecting. Books specially required
will not easily be obtained, and when they are found, the price will
probably be a high one. Books of reference will be expensive, and as these
soon get out of date, they will frequently need renewal.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] _Library Journal_, vol. ii. p. 70.