+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| A | B | C | D | E | F |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
and the issues are recorded by means of strokes or other figures. At
one time it was considered an ingenious arrangement to have a series of
boxes lettered according to classes, with locked doors and apertures at
the top, in which a pea could be dropped for every issue in any class;
but this seems to have been now completely abandoned. Certainly neither
the sheet-stroking nor pea-dropping method of getting at the number of
daily issues can be recommended, because in both cases the account is at
the mercy of assistants, who may either neglect to make such charges, or
register some dozen issues at a time to account for intervals spent in
idling. An application slip is the best solution of the difficulty. This
can either be filled up by the assistants or the borrowers. In certain
libraries these slips are of some permanence, being made of stout paper
in long narrow strips, on which borrowers enter their ticket-numbers
and the numbers and classes of the books they would like. The assistant
stamps the current date against the book had out, and the slips, after
the statistics are compiled from them, are sorted in order of borrowers’
numbers and placed in dated trays. Of course when the borrower returns
the book, his list is looked out, and the name of the returned book
heavily cancelled and another work procured as before. There are various
kinds of ticket-books issued for this purpose, some with counterfoils
and detachable cheques, and others with similar perforated slips and
ruled columns for lists of books wanted to read. Messrs. Lupton & Co. of
Birmingham, Mr. Ridal of Rotherham Free Library, and Messrs. Waterston &
Sons, stationers, Edinburgh, all issue different varieties of call-books,
or lists of wants. Some libraries provide slips of paper, on which the
assistant jots down the book-number after the borrower hands it in with
his ticket-number written in thus:—
+-------+-------+
|TICKET.| BOOK. |
+-------+-------+
| 5963 | C 431 |
+-------+-------+
These are simply filed at the moment of service, and become the basis
of the statistical entry for each day’s operations. Such slips save the
loss of time which often arises when careful entries have to be made on
day-sheets or books, and there can be no question as to their greater
accuracy. These are the main points in connection with the most-used
class of day-books and ledgers.