Typewriters for cataloguing or listing purposes are making slow progress
in public libraries; but it is unquestionable that before long they will
be introduced into every large library. Their advantages are many, among
them being greater speed, neatness, and clearness; not to speak of the
attention always bestowed by the public on printed titles or notices as
compared with written ones. If many copies of a list of “books wanted”
should be required, the typewriter will make a stencil on waxed paper
from which can be printed hundreds of copies. If three or six copies of
any title or document are required the typewriter will print them all
at once. For card-catalogues it is better to print two or three copies
of a title at once, and mount them on cards afterwards, making one the
author and another the subject entry. The best machines are those called
“type-bar” writers, the principle of which is that a circle or row of
rods carrying types at the ends, operated by a key like a pianoforte,
is made to strike on a common centre, so that a piece of paper fastened
at the point of contact is printed by being simply jerked along. The
various mechanical devices employed to achieve the different requirements
of printing are ingenious, but vary more or less in every machine. The
following machines are recommended for trial before a choice is made:
the Bar-lock, the Caligraph, the Hammond, the Remington, and the Yost.
Any of the manufacturers or agents will allow a week or fortnight’s
free trial of the machines, and this is the most satisfactory way of
deciding. Recommendations of friends and agents alike should be ignored,
and the librarian should trust to his own liking in the matter. After
all is said, there is really very little difference, as regards cost and
manipulation, in the best machines, and the matter resolves itself into a
question of meeting the requirements of a particular operator or purpose.
In the Bar-lock the type-bars strike downwards through a narrow inked
ribbon. There is a separate key for each type. In the Caligraph the bars
strike upwards through a broad ink ribbon, and the key-board is arranged
with capitals down each side and the lower case letters in the middle.
The Hammond is not a type-bar machine, but has two sizes of type on
different holders which are exchangeable and is operated by keys carrying
the names of two or three letters. The type-holder is struck by a striker
working from behind, and the letter is impressed on the paper through
an inked ribbon. The keys alter the position of the holder to bring the
proper letter or figure against the striker. Cards can be printed more
easily by the Hammond than by the other machines. The Remington, which
has had the longest career, has a single key-board, each key representing
two letters or figures. The bars strike upwards, and the construction of
the instrument is excellent. The Yost is a light and compact machine,
which prints direct from an ink pad on to the paper. It has a separate
key for each type, and a very good arrangement for spacing or inserting
missed letters.
Other copying or manifolding machines for manuscript are the Cyclostyle,
Mimeograph, and Trypograph. The two former are perhaps most useful in
libraries; the Mimeograph being best for manifolding along with the
typewriter. The ordinary screw letter copying press is a necessary
adjunct of every librarian’s office, but in libraries with small incomes
an “Anchor” copying press, costing about 12s. 6d., will be found to serve
all ordinary purposes.
FILES, BOXES, BOOK-HOLDERS, STAMPS, &c.
Letter files are made in a great variety of styles, from the spiked
wire to the elaborate and systematic index of the Amberg and Shannon
Companies. A useful series of cheap document files are made by Messrs.
John Walker & Co. of London, and comprise manilla paper and cloth
envelope, and box files for alphabetical arrangement, to hold papers
about 11 × 9 inches, &c. The collapsing accordion files are also made by
this firm. Single alphabetical files to hold some hundreds of documents
are supplied by the Amberg and Shannon File Companies in neat box form at
a small cost; and both these makers can supply file-cabinets of any size
or for any purpose, so far as the preservation of documents is concerned.
Any of the above-named are preferable to the ordinary wire and binder
files which pierce and tear documents without keeping them in get-at-able
order. Sheet-music and prints are best preserved in flat boxes with lids
and falling fronts, though the former, if kept at all, is best bound in
volumes. Print boxes are preferable to portfolios because they are not
so apt to crush their contents, and certainly afford a better protection
from dust. Pamphlet boxes are made in many styles: some with hinged lids
and falling fronts as in the illustration, Fig. 11; some with book-shaped
backs and hinged ends, and others in two parts.
Most librarians prefer the cloth-covered box with hinged lid and falling
front, which can be made in any form by all box-makers. The kind shown
in the illustration above are manufactured by Messrs. Fincham & Co.
of London; but others with a uniformly-sized rim are made in Glasgow,
Bradford, and Manchester. Messrs. Marlborough & Co. of London supply
boxes made in two parts. For filing unbound magazines and serials the
cloth-covered boxes with lids and flaps are most convenient. They
should be made of wood when intended for large periodicals like the
_Graphic_ or _Era_. American cloth or canvas wrappers are sometimes used
for preserving periodicals previous to binding, but boxes will, in the
long run, be found most economical, cleanly and easily used. There are
various kinds of binders made for holding a year’s numbers of certain
periodicals, in which the parts are either laced with cords or secured by
wires to the back. The difficulty with these seems to be that necessary
expansion is not always provided against by the appliances supplied.
Newspapers intended for binding are usually kept on racks and protected
from dust by American cloth or pasteboard wrappers. In other cases a
month’s papers are laced on perforated wooden bars and kept in rolls.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.]
Stitching machines are sometimes used for periodicals, and though
probably quicker than ordinary needle and thread sewing, have certain
drawbacks which make their use worthy of some deliberation. In the first
place a good machine is expensive and somewhat liable to get out of
order, and in the second place the wires used for the stitching very
often rust, and cause much trouble to the binder both because of the
tearing of the periodicals and the difficulty of their removal.
[Illustration: FIGS. 13-14.]
Reference might be made here to the “Fauntleroy” magazine case designed
by Mr. Chivers of Bath, in which an ingenious and neat brass fastener is
substituted for elastic or leather thongs.
[Illustration: FIGS. 15-16.]
Application forms are sometimes strung in bundles and left hanging or
lying about, but boxes made to their size and provided with thumb-holes
in the sides will be found more convenient and tidy. Various sorts of
holders are made for keeping books erect on the shelves or on tables,
among which the kinds illustrated above are probably best known. The
one shown in Fig. 12, manufactured by Walker & Co. of London, makes
an extremely useful device for arranging cards or slips, as it can be
adjusted to any space from ¼ of an inch. The others are best adapted
for ordinary shelf use. Figs. 13-14 are made by Messrs. Braby & Co.
of Deptford, London, and Messrs. Lewis & Grundy of Nottingham. Figs.
15-16 were designed by Mr. Mason, one of the secretaries of the Library
Association, and are supplied by Messrs. Wake & Dean of London.
STAMPS, SEALS, &c.
In addition to labels on the boards, it is usual in public libraries to
stamp the name of the institution on certain fixed places throughout
books, in order to simplify identification in cases of loss, and to deter
intending pilferers from stealing. Metal and rubber ink stamps have
been in use for a long time, and are doubtless the simplest to apply
and cheapest to procure. The ordinary aniline inks supplied with these
stamps are not reliable, as they can be quite easily removed by the aid
of various chemicals. The best ink for the purpose which can be used is
printing ink, but unfortunately it is difficult to apply and takes a very
long time to dry thoroughly. The best substitute appears to be the ink
for rubber stamps manufactured by Messrs. Stephens of London, which is
not by any means so easily removed as the purely aniline kinds. Embossing
stamps are perhaps more satisfactory as regards indelibility than any
of those just mentioned, but they are generally somewhat clumsy in make
and slow in application. The best method of marking books to indicate
proprietorship and to insure impossibility of removal is by the use
of a perforating stamp, which will bite several pages at once without
disfiguring the book. Most of the kinds at present made are rather
awkward, but there seems no reason why a handy perforator in the shape of
a pair of pincers should not be well within the mechanical abilities of
the average embossing stamp maker. The difficulty with perforating stamps
will always be that of having sufficient points to make the letters clear
without being too large. Dating stamps for lending library labels can
be had in revolving form for continuous use, or in small galleys which
can be altered from day to day. The latter are cheaper and more easily
applied. Seals for public library Boards which are incorporated can be
procured of any engraver at prices ranging from £5 to £50 according to
design and elaboration. Those in lever presses are just as effective as
those in screw presses.
LADDERS, &c.
Ladders should always be shod with rubber or leather at the foot to
prevent slipping, and an arrangement like that shown in the illustration
will be found of service in preventing books from being pushed back
in the shelves. The hinged top and top shelf are the invention of Mr.
MacAlister, one of the secretaries of the Library Association, and the
shelf for the books being replaced or taken down was first used at the
Kensington Public Library, London. If steps are used instead of ladders
they should be made with treads on both sides so that assistants need
not turn them about before using. Lightness is a very desirable quality
both in steps and ladders, and should be aimed at before durability.
There is nothing more tiresome than having to drag about a heavy pair
of steps, and the assistants who are entirely free from them have to be
congratulated.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.]
In some large libraries trucks are used for the conveyance of heavy
volumes. The light truck, covered with leather on the surfaces where
books rest, such as is used in the British Museum, will be found very
useful. Reference might be made here to the ingenious carrier invented
by Miss James of the People’s Palace Library, London, for the purpose of
conveying books from the galleries to the service counter in the middle
of the floor. This consists of a box running on a wire cable, and worked
by means of an endless cord and a wheel. For the peculiar purpose for
which it was designed it seems to be very satisfactory. There are many
other forms of lifts in use for lowering books from galleries, but very
few of them are of general application. In certain parishes in London
enamelled iron tablets directing to the library have been suspended from
the ladder-bars of the street lamps, to show strangers the whereabouts
of the institution. These are effective as a means of advertising the
library, and might be used for a similar purpose in all large towns.