BOOKS OF RECORD._A handbook of library appliances The technical equipment of libraries: fittings, furniture, charging systems, forms, recipes, etc.

For maintaining a permanent register of the different kinds of work

accomplished in libraries a great number of books are used, the varieties

of which are as numerous as charging systems. It would serve no useful

purpose to describe all of these books, much less their variations,

and so we shall content ourselves by taking a few typical specimens as

representative of all the rest. As the names of these various books

sufficiently describe their purpose, it will only be necessary to briefly

indicate the uses of the more obscure kinds and give occasional rulings

in explanation of the others.

The =minute book= contains a complete history of the work of the library

as far as the proceedings of the Library Board is concerned, and in many

cases it is really a succinct record of all the most important operations

of the institution. It should be well bound in morocco or other strong

leather, and should consist of good quality paper ruled faint and margin,

and paged. The =agenda book= forms the necessary accompaniment of the

minutes, and is a sort of draft minute book in which all the business to

come before the meeting is entered. A plain foolscap folio book, ruled

faint only, will serve for this purpose. The business is generally

entered on one side of the folio and the resolutions of the meeting on

the other. To save possible misunderstandings the chairman ought to enter

the decisions of the Board himself, after reading them over, and the

minutes should be compiled from this record rather than from separate

notes made by the clerk. The business books of public libraries are not

often kept by the librarian, except in London where the duties of clerk

are usually conjoined. For that reason it is perhaps needless to do more

than name the cash book, ledger, petty cash book, cash receipt book, and

postage book as the principal records maintained for financial purposes.

Many librarians unite their issue and receipts from fines books, while

others keep separate records; but it is best for beginners to keep their

cash affairs strictly apart, and in the ordinary fashion of good business

houses. The =donation book= is the record of all books, prints, maps,

or other gifts to the library, ruled to show the following particulars:

Author and Title | Vols. and Date | Name and Address of Donor | Date of

Receipt | Date of Acknowledgment | and, sometimes, the library number.

Some libraries have this book with a counterfoil, in which a double

entry is made, and the detachable portion is torn off to form a thanks

circular. This is a very convenient style of register.

=Proposition book= and =suggestion book=. In many cases these are nothing

more than plain faint ruled folio volumes, in which readers are allowed

to enter suggestions of new books or on the management of the library.

Often, however, the proposition book is ruled to carry the following

particulars: Book proposed | Publisher and Price | Date of Publication |

Name and Address of Proposer | Decision of Committee | Date or Number of

Order |. In other cases a form is supplied to readers desirous of making

suggestions of any sort. =Contract= or =estimate books= are not always

used, but the young librarian will find it of the greatest convenience

to keep a chronological record of every estimate received for work to

be done in the library. A guard book in which can be pasted the various

tenders received, or an ordinary plain ruled one in which they can be

entered, will be found a perfect treasury of assistance in many cases.

An index at the beginning or end can easily be made. =Inventory books=

are intended to furnish a complete record of all the library property,

showing when, from whom, and at what cost every item of furniture,

fitting, stationery, &c., was procured. It can be kept in a specially

ruled book, or in a faint ruled folio, classified to show the different

kinds of supplies. When re-ordering or reckoning up the duration of

supplies, this book will be found of the greatest use. As a record of

prices it is also valuable. =Invoice books= are sometimes kept in two

forms: first, as mere guard books in which paid invoices are pasted;

and second, as chronological records of every lot of books received by

purchase or donation. This very often saves much trouble in fixing the

routine in which books should be dealt with when being prepared for

public use. The ordinary ruling is as follows: Date of Receipt | Name of

Donor or Vendor | First Word of Invoice | No. of Vols. | Total Cost |

Remarks |. In addition to these columns some librarians add spaces for

marking with initials when every process connected with the preparation

of the books has been finished. =Location books= are used only with the

movable system of shelving books and are long narrow volumes ruled to

hold 50 lines on a folio, with the numbers written or printed down one

side, generally running from 1 to 10,000. The specimen ruling will show

this plainly.

501-550

+-----+---------------+-----------------------+

| No. | Location. | Author and Title. |

+-----+---------------+-----------------------+

| 501 | | |

| 02 | | |

| 03 | | |

The first new book awaiting treatment of course receives the first

unappropriated number. Some location books give additional particulars,

such as a column for the date of accession of books, which is often

required when spaces are left for continued sets of a series. The =stock

book= in most libraries forms a numerical catalogue of accessions in the

order of their receipt; giving particulars of edition, binding, vendor or

donor, price, and other information. It is, therefore, the most valuable

record kept by the library, if the minute book is excepted. Some are

classified, others classify the books in separate columns, while a few

keep the classification in a different book. The following selection

of headings will show the variety of rulings in use. At Bradford a

classified stock book is used, and it is ruled thus:—

(PRESS)

850-899. CLASS.

+-------+------++-----------------------+--------+

| DATE. | BOOK || TITLE. AUTHOR. | STOCK |

| | NO. || |BOOK NO.|

+-------+------++-----------------------+--------+

| | 850 || | |

| | 851 || | |

| | 852 || | |

| | || | |

The last column refers to a book in which purchases are entered with a

consecutive numbering, and is an index to the accession of the volumes,

while the stock book shown above is primarily a _place_ book. It is thus

rather a shelf register than a record of accession of stock. The Mitchell

Library, Glasgow, uses the following headings: Date of Receipt | Author

or Continuation | Book or Pamphlet | Size | Place of Publication | Date

of Publication | Condition when Received | Donor, if Presented | Price,

Remarks |. Various Modifications of this stock book are used in different

libraries. At Manchester a much briefer description is given, namely:

Class | Size | Place of Publication | Date when Published | Condition

when Received | Donor, if Presented | Price, if Purchased | Vendor, if

Purchased | Remarks |. In this book no provision seems to be made for the

number which directs to the place of books or their order of accession.

The stock book used at Lambeth classifies as it goes along, and has

headings as follows:

| 7501 | B 1874 | | | |

| | How Acquired |

| +--------+-------+-----------+

Classification. | |

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. | Remarks |

This is intended for lending library books. For reference libraries the

dates of publication and other particulars of edition would be given. At

Liverpool and Chelsea a cumulative system of classifying is used, which

is shown in the following sample: | Date Received | Author | Title | No.

of Vols. | Size | Place of Publication | Date of Publication | Bound in

Number | Accession Number | Remarks |.

With stock books of the Glasgow pattern a classification book is

commonly used, in which are entered abstracts of classes, books,

pamphlets, purchases, gifts, works as distinguished from volumes, special

collections, totals, &c., page by page. Accuracy is almost inevitable

by this method, owing to the numerous cross checks provided. In some

libraries separate stock books are kept for periodicals and annual

publications, but the principle in all is similar to the ordinary

stock book. It only remains to add that, as stock books are records of

some importance and permanency, they ought to be made of the very best

materials. The =shelf register=, as the name indicates, is the volume

in which a list of the books is kept, in the order of their arrangement

on the shelves. Such registers are only required for the fixed plan of

location. The most elementary form simply gives the | Press Mark | Author

and Title | No. of Vols. | Stock, Progressive, or Consecutive Number |;

the last referring to the entry in the accessions or stock book. Others

are much more elaborate, being really varieties of classified stock

books, and giving particulars of edition, price, &c. The main uses of

the shelf catalogue or register are to fix the numbers of new books, and

to afford a ready means of taking stock. The varieties of this book are

practically endless, and we shall only give two other specimens:—

Press No. _________________

Shelf Letter ______________

+------------+--------+-------------+---------+--------+--------+-------+

| | | | | | | |

and

+----------+---------+---------+----------------+-----------+

| | | | | |

=Duplicate registers= give particulars of the accession of duplicate

books, and their destination if sold or exchanged. =Order= and =letter

books= are usually just separate copying books, but frequently the former

are kept with counterfoils, and sometimes separate ruled forms are used,

and simply copied into an ordinary tissue letter book. =Binding books=

or sheets record the volumes sent out for binding or repair, and usually

note the following particulars:—

Manchester. Date of Sending.

| Press Mark | Title of Book for Lettering | Date of Return |

Binder’s Charge |.

Bradford. Date of Sending.

Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Date of Sending.

| Instruction | Lettering | Date of Return |.

=Borrowers’= and =guarantors’ registers= are sometimes kept in books,

but often on cards, which are the most convenient. They register names,

addresses, period of borrowing right, and guarantors in one case, and

names, addresses, and persons guaranteed in the other. In some libraries

a record of each borrower’s reading is posted on to his card from the

book application forms.

=Periodical receipt and check books= are for marking off the current

numbers of newspapers and magazines as received from the newsagent,

and for checking them each morning as they lie on the tables or racks.

Ruled sheets and cards are also used for the same purpose. They usually

consist of lists of monthly, weekly, daily, and other periodicals,

with rulings to show dates of receipt or finding covering a period of

one to six months. =Issue books=, for recording the issues of books in

libraries, are designed in many styles, each having reference to the

particular requirements of a certain institution. Generally, however, the

particulars preserved include: | Date | No. of Vols. Issued by Classes |

Totals | Weekly or Monthly Average |. Many give the number of visits to

newsrooms and reading-rooms, while others include the amounts received

from fines, sale of catalogues, &c. One issue book is usually ruled to

show the work accomplished in every department, but many libraries keep

separate registers for lending and reference departments. In towns where

there are a number of branch libraries the returns of issues, &c.,

are often recorded in a very elaborate and complete fashion. The day

book or issue ledger has already been referred to under ledger charging

systems, but in addition to these there is an endless variety of daily

issue sheets, some simple and some very complex. It would be useless to

give patterns of these, as the whole question of their adoption hinges

on the main system by which each library is managed. =Work books=,

=time book= and =sheets=, =scrap books=, and =lost and found registers=

are sufficiently described by their names. The two first are for staff

management, and in large libraries are absolutely necessary; the work

book for noting the duties of each assistant, and the time book or sheet

for recording times of arrival and departure from duty. Lost and found

registers record thefts, mutilations, or other abstractions of library

property, and dates and descriptions of articles found on the premises.

These are, roughly speaking, the most necessary books of record required

in the administration of a public library, but many others exist which

have been designed for special purposes. The Museum of the Association

contains specimens of many of the books above named, and librarians

are, as a rule, glad to show what they have in the way of novelties or

variations from standard patterns.

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