=THE HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY.=
“There is no problem relating to the equipment of the high school which
is more pressing than that of the library,” said a recent editorial
writer in the =School Review=. At the annual meeting of the New York
State Library Association, in 1907, Dr. Downing, State Commissioner of
Education, suggested that some special study be given to the question
of high school libraries and a committee was later appointed to make an
investigation of library conditions in high schools and report at the
annual meeting in September, 1909. A questionnaire was sent to some
eighty-three schools, but only a few of the replies contained more than
the briefest answers. Twenty-five out of the fifty-two libraries heard
from were in charge of librarians who had some library experience or
training. Most of the librarians had been appointed to high school
positions since 1903. The first appointment of a high school librarian
in New York City was in 1900. The investigation as a whole was
unsatisfactory, inasmuch as the high schools reporting were not
representative of conditions throughout the State, much less throughout
the country generally, and because the replies left much unsaid as to
the actual use of and interest in these libraries.
In a discussion of “The difficulty of the high school library,”[2] Mr.
Edwin White Gaillard, supervisor of work with schools, New York Public
Library, claims that the problem is largely one of money and deprecates
the duplication of work already being done by the public library. This
is no more of an argument against high school libraries than are
similar objections against departmental libraries in a university. The
high school library is for a special kind of work—work that can best
be done in the school building, under the supervision and guidance of
one familiar with the special needs of the student. Mr. Gaillard grants
that much, of course, may be learned about libraries and library
methods in the high school library, but claims that the library habit,
the habit of going to the public library for all sorts of information,
of little or of great interest, cannot be acquired from the high school
library. This is a point which cannot be conceded. University
librarians are familiar with a similar argument against technical
departmental libraries to the effect that they have a tendency to make
the technical student feel that there is no need of his going to the
University Library, that the departmental library answers all his
needs. Experience, however, proves that to have these students use any
library you must plant it right in their midst. So with the high school
students: give them a good library in their own school building and
then see that they use it properly, for this is a part of modern
education.
In these days when high schools are extending their work in so many
directions and when books must be provided for supplementary work in
English, in history, in the preparation of debates, and in other
subjects, a well-equipped library is a necessity in the modern high
school. A motley array of old text-books, out-of-date encyclopædias and
miscellaneous volumes from the attics of well-meaning friends of the
institution will not make a good high school library. Upon how many
school libraries in this country can former pupils look back as did
Burne-Jones upon the little school library at Birmingham, as “that
blessed institution where we spent many blissful hours.” The failure of
many school libraries is due to a lack of proper care and fostering
attention after they have been established. The library is there out of
deference to a growing public sentiment in favor of such an annex, but
the library is too frequently left to run itself, or the responsibility
for its care is given to some teacher already overburdened with
class-room work. The responsibility ought never to be placed on the
teachers, or at least not on one who is doing full work as a teacher.
The average teacher, if given charge of a school library, will confine
her efforts to seeing that the rules are obeyed, that books are brought
in on time, and that silence and order are preserved. She will not have
time or energy to devote to the building up of the library, to instruct
the pupils in its use, to look after reference work with the students,
nor to help the teachers in finding needed material. “Disabuse
yourselves of the notion that it is teachers’ work, and a way out of
the difficulty will be found,” says a recent writer in the Library
Journal.[3]
The school library differs from the average public library in that it
is usually a reference library first and a lending library only so far
as the use of its books outside the building does not conflict with the
usefulness of its service to the teachers and pupils in the school
building.
=Duties of the Librarian.=—The first duty of the librarian is to make
the books, photographs, and other possessions of the library available
by a simple and acceptable system of classification and cataloguing.
After this has been accomplished it will be necessary to make these
possessions known to the teachers and pupils. This can only be done by
one who is familiar with the material and trained in its use. If the
reference work is done by an untrained worker it is a case of the blind
leading the blind. A teacher with no training in library methods will
not go to another teacher, known to be similarly deficient, for
information in regard to books, and the pupils will get comparatively
little real library help from one who is primarily a class-room
teacher, untrained to meet all classes of readers and answer a great
variety of questions.
The interested librarian will be on the lookout for any new books that
may be of use to teachers and pupils; she will try to keep a balance in
the matter of books for the various departments of study, to inform
herself on current events and, in short, make herself as useful in all
lines of high school work as is possible with the time and means at her
disposal.
=Assistance for the Librarian.=—As the work of the library grows it
will be necessary for the librarian to have assistance of some kind.
The arrangement for this will depend largely upon the circumstances in
the given school. In many schools student assistants are employed. In
some cases boys are hired at a small sum per hour to give their
services as pages. In others good students are allowed to volunteer for
library work, giving one hour a day to it. They enjoy the work and find
their enlarged knowledge of the library very useful. In some schools
the librarian is assisted by a member of the teaching staff, who thus
becomes familiar with the library and acquires some knowledge of
reference work and can assist the pupils in various ways.
=Purposes of a Library.=—The purposes of a school library should be
not only to provide laboratory material for the pupils’ work in
literature and history, to enable the teacher to instruct them in the
use of books as sources of information, and to assist the teacher in
other ways, but also to instil in the pupils an interest in books as
books, to cultivate a taste for reading. Too many high school graduates
have no conception of a book, other than fiction, as anything but a
task or a text.
The high school library should not try to compete with the public
library if there is one in the same town. Literature for recreation
pure and simple is better supplied by the public library, where it is
available for those who are both below and above the high school age.
But, on the other hand, if there is nothing to interest the students by
its innate appeal, if everything in the school library suggests
lessons, many of the students will view it with suspicion, and avoid
it, unless sent there by the teachers.
=Teaching the Use of the Library.=—Most pupils when they enter the
high school are ignorant of the use of the simplest and most common
reference books. They do not know the difference between a table of
contents and an index, and are so helpless in a library that their
teachers hesitate to give them work outside their text-books. Even
those who are best informed can be helped to the use of books which
will be of the greatest assistance to them in the preparation of their
daily lessons, essays, and debates.
Early in the school year the librarian ought to meet the new students
and explain to them in the reading-room the grouping of the books and
the fundamental principles underlying the making of a dictionary card
catalogue. The location of various classes of reference books should be
pointed out, the differences between a dictionary and an encyclopædia
explained, and the various types of both commented upon. The pupils
should be shown how to use “Poole’s Index” and the “Reader’s Guide to
Periodical Literature” and have the helpfulness of these aids clearly
brought home to them by concrete illustrations in connection with some
practical theme work or preparation for a debate. If this initial visit
to the library is made the subject of a required paper in the English
course the benefits are doubled. The pupils can be assigned problems of
various kinds involving the intelligent use of tables of contents and
indexes, and familiarizing themselves with a variety of reference
books.[4] They can be asked to fill out a call slip from the reference
in the card catalogue, take the volume to the delivery desk, have it
charged out, return it, see it discharged and put back in its regular
place on the shelves.
=Library Instruction.=—The library instruction, in order to be of real
benefit to the pupils, should be made a part of the school curriculum
and be given credit the same as other work. In most schools where it is
given it is counted as a part of the English work. In the high schools
of Michigan the time given to the library work varies from one to three
exercises for each of the grades. The instruction is given in the form
of lectures or informal talks, after which the pupils are required to
work out a set of problems on reference books. This work is done in the
library under the supervision of the librarian. The completed exercises
are in some schools handed in to the librarian and in others to the
English teacher, but the credit is usually given the pupil by his
English teacher. The talks are arranged to suit the work and needs of
the different classes. Those for the ninth grade pupils ordinarily
include instruction in the use of dictionaries, encyclopædias and
atlases, and the use of the table of contents and indexes in reference
books. The instruction for the tenth grade takes up the use of the card
catalogue, magazine indexes, year-books, and special indexes. The upper
classes may be given practice work in comparing the value of different
reference books, in learning to get references from various sources not
on the reference shelves, and in the use of some of the government
publications.
=Library Courses.=—One of the best library courses of this kind is
that conducted by the librarian of the Detroit Central High School,
where the work is graded to correspond with the regular grading of the
English courses in that school. The librarian has a graded series of
library questions which are among the best illustrations of this kind
of work for high school courses available in print. We give specimens
from the various series as follows:
I. 1. Consult the indexes of poems by Holmes, and give the pages on
which you find the following: (=a=) Poem beginning,
“Listen, young heroes! Your country is calling.” (=b=) Poem
entitled, “Dorothy Q.”
2. Between what streets in our city does 870 Lafayette Street
come?
II. 1. Look up the “Seven Wonders of the World” in two different
books. Do not copy them. Name the books in which you found
them.
2. In what work of literature does the “Old Man of the Sea”
appear? In what reference book did you find it?
III. 1. Find the allusion to “Field of the Cloth of Gold” in two
different books. In what books did you find it?
2. Use the card catalogue and give a reference for the life of
John Greenleaf Whittier.
IV. 1. (=a=) Who was governor of Iowa in 1906? (=b=) Where was he
born?
2. (=a=) Name two good recent encyclopædias, (=b=) Name two
good older encyclopædias.
V. 1. (=a=) What is the general index to Government publications?
(=b=) How often is it published?
2. (=a=) What is the Congressional directory? (=b=) Examine it
and name any one reference point which interested you.
(=c=) What is the Congressional record?
VI. Name good reference books under the following heads: (=a=)
Classical dictionary. (=b=) Gazetteer of the world.
(=c=) Atlas of the world. (=d=) Year-book for current
history.
There is an almost endless variety of questions which can be put to the
students to bring out points in connection with reference books. They
can be asked to name the various kinds of dictionaries in the library,
to tell which is the latest issue, to look up the same word in each,
and tell the differences noted in the treatment of the word in
question. See whether they can define a gazetteer, a glossary, and a
concordance. Ask them where they would go to find a picture of the
human skeleton, or colored plates of coats of arms and flags of various
nations. See whether the word copyright means anything to them.
=The Teacher and the Library.=—“The position of a modern librarian in
a high school,” says Principal McAndrew,[5] of the Washington Irving
High School, New York, “seems to me like that of a missionary in a
heathen country. No one but a librarian can realize what an astounding
amount of ignorance we high school teachers exhibit regarding the
purpose and operation of a library. Time and again in my library
experience I have observed teachers searching through reference books
who were too poorly trained to look in the table of contents and too
proud to ask for help.” A frank confession from the teacher is good for
the soul of both the teacher and the librarian. Certainly the classroom
teacher must inform herself more thoroughly on the rudiments of library
methods if she is to work in successful co-operation with the school
librarian. Normal schools are now giving instruction in library
economy. The Oregon Library Commission has published a broadside
listing under forty-three heads, “Some things a teacher should know
about books and libraries.” The list has been reprinted by the Michigan
State Library Commission with slight revision. As specimens the
following may be cited:
1. What are the best cyclopedias?
2. What dictionaries are best for school use and how do they differ?
3. What books can you consult to find out whether certain
subscription sets urged upon the district by agents have any value?
4. What is the best printed aid to the formation of a teacher’s
professional library?
5. Where will you find annual summaries of the books on education,
with notes as to their value?
6. What U. S. public documents would be of value to you in your
school work and how may they be obtained?
7. What are the best printed lists of books for children and how much
will they cost?
8. What are the best graded lists of children’s books?
9. Where can you get notes about children’s books that will be of
service in guiding the reading of the children in your grade?
10. What are the best books for reading aloud in your grade?
11. What are the best collections of poetry for children?
12. What books may be the best stepping-stones for the boy who is a
slave to the “nickel library” habit?
13. What simple, accurate, scientific books will you give to the boys
who are, or may become, interested in natural science; and what will
you choose for those who wish to identify specimens of insects, of
minerals and rocks, of birds, and of flowers?
14. If you do not know about these books how will you inform yourself?
15. What are some of the best biographies for children?
16. What are some of the good books of travel for use in geography
work?
17. How can you find what magazine articles have been written about
any subject and how can you get these articles for the use of the
debating society?
18. What are the best books for the debating society?
19. What are the best periodicals for children?
20. What are the provisions of the school library law in regard to
district-school libraries?
=Value of Library Instruction.=—Such library instruction as has been
described is of great help to teachers assigning work to pupils and of
the greatest benefit to the pupils themselves. Without it, the
librarian, teachers, and pupils are handicapped in their work and the
library fails of its full usefulness. A knowledge of how to use a
library will be of the greatest value to the student not only through
his high school course, but even more so in college, if he goes that
far, or in continuing his reading and self-culture through the means of
the public library when he discontinues his academic career. To be able
to use books effectively, to know where to find exact information when
wanted, is a kind of knowledge that comes from familiarity with
reference books and the use of books as sources. Such an acquaintance
with books is of infinitely more value in later life than knowing a few
text-books from cover to cover. The place in which to lay the
foundation for this proper and intimate acquaintance with books as
tools is in the school library and the period is that of the high
school age.
-----
Footnote 2:
_School Review_, April. 1907, vol. XV, pp. 245-253.
Footnote 3:
Vol. XXXIII, p. 136.
Footnote 4:
For some problems of this sort, see “Modern American Library
Economy,” by John Cotton Dana, Part V, “The School Department,
Section 2.” “Course of Study for Normal School Pupils on the Use of a
Library,” by Marjory L. Gilson.
Footnote 5:
In an address before the library section of the National Education
Association, Boston, July 5, 1910.
CHAPTER X.
=SUGGESTED READINGS IN THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.=
The new Encyclopædia Britannica will prove a rich mine for the diligent
library assistant seeking information on topics connected with books
and libraries. While the index volume suggests some of the topics in
question, much of this suggestion is done by means of cross-references
and it is worth while to call special attention to and briefly
summarize the articles of interest to library workers. One of the first
things worthy of notice is the fact that the articles are written by
men who are recognized authorities in their various fields; such
scholars as Sir E. Maunde Thompson, late chief librarian of the British
Museum, Alfred W. Pollard and Cyril Davenport, also of the British
Museum, H. R. Tedder, librarian of the Athenæum Club, and editor of
“_The Library_” and J. Duff Brown, librarian of the Islington Public
Libraries and author of the “Guide to librarianship” and other valued
treatises on library economy.
=Manuscripts.=—Beginning with the =Manuscript= the student can read in
Sir E. Maunde Thompson’s article a description of the development of
the ancient manuscript, particularly among the Greeks and Romans,
leading on to the mediaeval manuscripts of Europe, and bringing their
history down to the invention of printing. The writer treats of the
materials used, the forms of the manuscript book (the roll, the waxen
tablet, the codex, the quires) the mechanical arrangement of writing,
punctuation, division of words, abbreviations and contractions, writing
implements and inks. Those who wish to pursue the subject further can
turn to the same writer’s article on =Palæography=, the science which
takes cognizance of writings of a literary, economic or legal nature,
done generally with a stile, reed or pen, on tablets, rolls or codices.
This paper traces the history of Greek and Latin palæography from the
earliest written documents in those languages which have survived,
touching especially on Greek papyri and vellum codices, the Roman
cursive and literary hands, and the various national hands derived from
the Roman hand. It is therefore concerned with the fundamentals of the
written records of Western Europe. Manuscripts with illustrations form
a class by themselves and are described by this same high authority
under =Illuminated Mss.= Here are outlined the chief features of the
Byzantine, Franco-Lombardic, Celtic (with special mention of the
Lindisfarne Gospels, of which a full-page colored facsimile is given)
Carolingian, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, German, Italian and Spanish. There
are separate paragraphs on the characteristics of the illumination of
the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.
=Paper.=—In the first section of the articles on Paper Sir Maunde
Thompson discusses various theories as to the origin and early history
of this commodity. For an account of the writing material made from
=Papyrus= the author refers us to his treatment of that subject, where
he gives an account of the reed, its cultivation and wide-spread use,
its manipulation into the article of commerce and the use of the latter
by scribes. The second section of the article on Paper treats
especially of its manufacture and is written by J. W. Wyatt, with an
interesting supplementary note on =India Paper= by W. E. G. Fisher. The
name “India” was “originally given in England, about the middle of the
18th century to a soft absorbent paper of a pale buff shade, imported
from China, where it was made by hand, on a paper-making frame somewhat
similar to that used in Europe. The name probably originated in the
prevailing tendency, down to the end of the 18th century, to describe
as ‘Indian’ anything which came from the far East (_cf._ Indian ink).
This so-called India paper was used for printing the earliest and
finest impressions of engravings, hence known as ‘India proofs’”.
=The Book.=—As pointed out by Alfred W. Pollard in his article on the
Book, there is but a slight difference in general appearance between a
manuscript written in a formal book-hand and an early printed copy of
the same work printed in the same district as the manuscript had been
written. The type used by the early printers was as a rule based on
handwriting considered appropriate for use in a manuscript copy of the
same work. The development of the colophon into the title-page (a
subject on which Mr. Pollard is an authority) is briefly summarized.
Other characteristics of some of the early printed books, such as their
size, their paper, their illustrations and their bindings are noted.
The main features of the books of each century from the 16th to the
19th are succinctly characterized in separate paragraphs, and the
comparative cost of books at various periods is illustrated by
citations of prices of well known works.
=Incunabula.=—Another article by Mr. Pollard treats of Incunabula.
After summarizing the researches in this field the author grants that
it is literally true that the output of the 15th century presses is
better known to students than that of any other period. The subject has
been pursued with what some have thought to be excessive and misplaced
zeal. American librarians are naturally not so much interested in
incunabula as are their European brethren, but our larger libraries and
especially our universities are coming to have a fair representation of
the work of some of the early printers and one notable collection, that
made by Dr. Copinger, has come to this country, having been presented
to the Philadelphia Free Library by Mr. P. A. B. Widener.
=Printing.=—The article on Printing by C. T. Jacobi, the author of a
practical treatise on the subject which has gone through four editions,
is confined to the work of the printing press and is divided into two
parts: (1) history of the printing press and (2) modern presses. Those
who do not have a mechanical bent will probably not get much out of
these sections, but towards the end of the article is some general
information on printing which ought to prove of interest to every
library assistant.
The history of printing is treated at great length under the caption of
=Typography= by J. H. Hessels, author of “Gutenberg; an historical
investigation.” This article discusses in turn the manuscript
period, the earliest attempts at printing, block-printing, early
wood-engravings, block books, early printing with movable type, the
controversy concerning the invention (this with great fulness), of
early types and their fabrication, and ends with a sketch of some
printers who flourished after 1500. A second section, entitled =Modern
Practical Typography=, in part by John Southward, author of a
“Dictionary of typography,” deals with the material characteristics of
type, the sizes, and varieties of face, the manufacture of type,
composition and imposition, signatures and forms, typesetting machines,
electrotyping and stereotyping.
=Proof Reading=, by John H. Black, who was press reader on the new
volumes of the 10th edition of the Britannica, and John Randall, is of
concern to all of us who have to do with “the art preservative of all
the arts.” Proof reading seems to be practiced less and less in these
days of type-setting machines, but being informed on the subject will
help us in insisting on good work along this line.
=Illustrations.=—That the information concerning zinc cuts, half-tones,
three color processes, monotypes, electrotypes, photolithotypes, and
all other photo-mechanical methods of reproduction should be included
in an article under =Process= will probably strike American readers
as a Briticism,—but the facts are up to date and reliable. The writer,
Mr. Edwin Bale, art director for Cassell and Co., grants that the
term “process” is a somewhat unfortunate, one inasmuch as it is
descriptive of nothing in particular. The article discusses in
turn the various classes under the three generic heads: (1) =relief=,
such as zinc etching, half-tones, including those in color; (2)
=intaglio=, such as photogravures and monotypes, where, as in the old
copper plates, the printing surface is sunk below the surrounding
portions of the plate; (3) =planographic=, like lithographs,
collotypes, phototypes and heliotypes, which are all printed from flat
surfaces. The distinction between these various kinds of illustrations
is not easily grasped by the beginner, but no one whose constant
business is with books ought to be ignorant of the difference between a
woodcut and a half-tone, a mezzotint and a chrome-lithograph, a copper
plate and a cleverly devised imitation made from a zinc block, and yet
I have seen a good many library school graduates to whom the
whole matter was so much Greek. How can you buy illustrated books
intelligently if you don’t know whether the illustrations are what they
pretend to be? Better read up further in Mr. Frank Weitenkampf’s “How
to appreciate prints” and study carefully the Newark exhibit, “The
features of the printed book,” the first opportunity you get.
Meanwhile, make yourself familiar with the general information given by
Laurence Housman in his article on =Illustration=. Leaving aside the
illumination of manuscripts, the art of illustration in its modern
sense goes back to the invention of printing. Many incunabula were
enriched with drawings by artists of the French, German, Spanish and
Italian schools. Many engravings on both wood and copper by such men as
Dürer and Holbein were made to adorn the printed page. The art of
illustration has always been influenced by the prevailing pictorial
art. French engraving was influenced by the painting of Watteau.
English illustrations of different periods show the large following
which such men as Reynolds and Hogarth were accorded. Bewick laid the
foundations for a school of English wood engraving which persisted
until the invention of mechanical methods of reproduction came into
vogue. The cheap magazines created a great demand for illustrations
that could be inexpensively produced, and the files of illustrated
periodicals thereby became one of the best places in which to study the
work of wood engravers and illustrators whose work lent itself to
reproduction in cheap form. To those who know how to use them aright
this gives a new interest to some of the Poole sets which have of late
years been retired to out of the way places, such as _Once a week_,
_Good words_, _London Society_, _Sunday at home_, for in the pages of
these journals are found illustrations by some of the best men of the
school known as “of the ’sixties.”
The technical developments of the art of illustration form the subject
of a brief supplementary article by E. F. Strange of the South
Kensington Museum. This is concerned with the history of experiments
leading to the development of the present day half-tone block and color
printing.
=Bookbinding= is treated by Cyril Davenport, who sketches the history
of his subject from the earliest times when protective covers were used
over the smaller Assyrian tablets of about the 8th century B. C.,
through the days of Latin diptychs (the earliest prototypes of the
modern book) to the time of rolls of papyrus, vellum or paper. The
device of folding vellum into pages was first used about the 5th
century of the Christian era, and the sewing of these signatures by
fastening the threads around a strip of leather or vellum at right
angles to the line of backs was the next stage in the development of
the modern book. Then it was found that the bands needed protection and
so strips of leather were fastened down the backs, and in order to
prevent the tendency of the vellum leaves to curl, strong wooden boards
were put on each side and the leather back was drawn over the boards
far enough to make a hinge, thus giving us the half-bound books of the
middle ages. The next steps were to cover not only the back but also
the sides of the book with leather and then to decorate the leather.
The art of gold tooling spread quickly, and heraldic designs were used
for ornamentation from the days of Edward VI. The deterioration of the
quality of modern book paper and badly prepared leathers have been
serious drawbacks to good bookbinding, but there has been a revival of
interest in the art for its own sake during recent years. The
introduction of stamped cloth binding about 1822 developed into the
case binding of today, for which elaborate machinery has been perfected.
=Book-plates= are thought of by many librarians as being unworthy of
their serious attention, but a mere glance at the article by Egerton
Castle should convince the uninitiated as to the value of at least a
rudimentary knowledge of the subject. Mr. Castle’s study of “English
book-plates” appeared twenty years ago, but his interest in ex-libris
has apparently not flagged despite the demands of novel writing on his
time, which is a tribute to the fascinations of these little marks of
ownership. Among the illustrations are reproduced the earliest known
movable book-plate, one belonging to the monastery of Buxheim, dating
from about 1480, and the oldest English plate, that of Sir Nicholas
Bacon, 1574. Good examples are given of armorial plates of various
periods, of the Jacobean, the Chippendale or rococo, and the pictorial
where, as in the Bewick plate, the motif is a bit of landscape or, as
in the plate by E. D. French, a library interior.
=Bookselling.=—Even those librarians who think that they know
something about buying books, can with decided advantage read the
article on Bookselling. The modern system goes back almost to the
invention of printing. The earliest printers were also editors and
booksellers but as they were not able themselves to dispose of the
entire output of their presses they had agents at most of the
universities. The religious dissensions following the Reformation
created a great demand for books and there were troublous times for
both printers and booksellers. In the English copyright act of 1709 it
is ruled that if any person shall think the published price of a book
unreasonably high he may make complaint to the archbishop of Canterbury
and to certain other persons named who shall thereupon examine into his
complaint and if well founded reduce the price, and any bookseller
charging more than the price agreed upon shall be fined for every copy
sold. Unfortunately this law was never enforced. Were there such a
court of appeal today it would have a full docket! In the paragraph on
bookselling in this country it is pointed out that half the names in
the “so-called American catalogue of books” printed between 1820 and
1852 are British, the works of Scott, Byron, Moore, Southey and
Wordsworth having been printed here without the payment of any
royalties. Through the growth of intercourse with England and the
appearance on the literary horizon of native writers of ability, a
decided change was gradually produced in the American book trade and
the conditions here became more like those of Europe.
=Publishing.=—The subject of bookselling is treated still further in
the article on Publishing which is in a way a continuation of it. It
gives more historical detail concerning the early stages of this once
combined business, with a good deal on that topic of interest to
librarians and the book-buying public,—the net price question. The
early separation of publishing from bookselling is touched upon, and
the emergence of publishers as a separate class is outlined. The
transitory phenomenon of the man of letters assisting the publisher in
an advisory capacity as to the suitability of manuscripts submitted for
publication is an interesting chapter in the expansion of the
publishing business. Publishing being today largely a commercial
affair, the literary reader has in the main been supplanted by the man
of business with an aptitude for estimating how many copies of a given
book can be sold. One London publisher has of recent years paid no
salary to his reader but has given him a small commission upon every
copy that was sold of any book published on his recommendation. What is
wanted by the publisher is only too often not literary quality but
commercial value.
=Bibliography.=—The article on this subject by Mr. Pollard, is only
concerned with bibliography as the art of examination, collation and
description of books,—their enumeration and arrangement in lists for
purposes of information, and further, with the literature of this
subject, _i. e._ with the bibliography of bibliography. The examination
and collation of books to discover whether they are perfect and in
their original condition are especially important in the case of rare
books, like incunabula and first editions, piracies and spurious
imprints. Photographic forgeries of books can usually be detected by
the tendency of all photographic reproduction to thicken letters and
exaggerate every kind of defect. Some of these imitations are, however,
very cleverly made on paper of the period of the original and so are
very hard to distinguish from the latter.
=Book Collecting= is sympathetically discussed by Mr. Pollard. The
statement that the ultimate rarity of books varies in the inverse ratio
of the number of copies originally printed, though recognized as a
somewhat sweeping generalization, is conceded to be not far from the
truth. No one thinks of collecting what is easily procurable at the
moment. So long as the anticipation exists that a book will continue to
be easily procurable the collecting impulse is restrained. Book
collecting as a hobby is analyzed and the history of some notable
private collections given. As Thomas Watts once said, the main office
of private collections is to feed public institutions.
=Libraries.=—This brings us to the article on Libraries, written
jointly by H. R. Tedder and J. Duff Brown, an article of about 65,000
words and deserving of more than a passing notice. It is the latest
conspectus of library history and activity and if printed separately
might have made a book of several hundred pages which would have been
duly reviewed in all the professional journals. The fact that it is in
the Britannica insures it even wider publicity and in view of its
excellence we feel that it is worth while calling to the particular
attention of librarians.
The general treatment divides the subject into Ancient libraries (3
pages) Mediaeval period (3 pages) and Modern libraries (26 pages). The
first section has an archaeological rather than a professional
interest, but the mediaeval period is of importance to us because in it
is found the real origin of modern library organization. A rule of St.
Benedict required the monks to borrow a book apiece and read it
straight through. The books in the Benedictine monastery were kept in
_armaria_, or chests; whence the name of the Benedictine librarian,
_armarius_. The Carthusians are supposed to have been the first to lend
books for use outside the monastery. The library at Cesena in Northern
Italy is still preserved in its original condition. The Laurentian
library at Florence was designed after monastic models.
The development of modern libraries is first illustrated by examples
from the United Kingdom, by sketching the history of the British
Museum, and other English Government libraries, by outlining the growth
of the university libraries of Great Britain, incidentally touching on
the libraries of learned societies, clubs, municipalities, and winding
up with a section on British library administration. All this is
admirably done, and deserves careful reading. The authors suggest
several reforms and question some practices. For example, they feel
that it would be an advantage from an administrative standpoint if the
professional certificates of the Library Association were adopted by
the Civil Service Commissioners as a compulsory requirement in
addition to their own examination. They evidently favor some form
of “registration,” the mooted topic before the British Library
Association. The official recognition of a grade of properly trained
librarians would in the opinion of these writers tend to improve the
methods and efficiency of the government libraries, generally
conceded to be behind the municipal libraries in organization and
administration. It is pointed out that the reading of fiction in
British municipal libraries is much less than commonly believed, being
only 24 percent, even after due allowance is made for the reading of
fiction in current magazines. Attention is called to the gradual
disappearance of the unclassified municipal library, although in 1910
there were over 340 not closely classified, but only arranged in broad
numerical or alphabetical divisions. The replacement of printed
catalogs in book form by card catalogs and other forms, like the sheaf
catalog, easily kept up to date, is noted as growing in favor. The
great increase in the freedom of access allowed in lending libraries is
considered the most striking tendency of recent years.
In the section devoted to the United States, the Library of Congress
naturally comes first, and is characterized as “the most active
government library in existence.” The rise of the state and university
libraries is sketched, and something is said about the proprietary and
endowed libraries of the country. That these writers are not of the
group who have been saying unkind things about us, witness the
following: “In no country has the movement for the development of
municipal libraries made such progress as in the United States; these
institutions ... are distinguished for their work, enterprise and the
liberality with which they are supported.” There is an interesting
comparison of the cost of maintenance of English and American
libraries. East Orange, N. J. (population 35,000) spends $12,000 on its
library system, while Dumfries in Scotland (population 23,000) spends
$2,500. The city of Cincinnati, with practically the same population as
the borough of Islington, London, spends more than three times as much
money on its library system,—$130,000 as contrasted with $41,000. It
would be instructive to compare the work done in these particular
cities. The general statement is made that the provision of books is
more generous in the American libraries than in those of Great Britain,
but that more reading is done in the latter. The authors point out that
work with the schools and children generally is more cultivated in the
libraries of the United States than elsewhere. They are cautious in
their statements, but one can read the doubt in their minds as to the
wisdom of the “story hour” in the library. “The preponderance of women
librarians and their natural sentimental regard for children has tended
to make this work loom rather largely in some quarters, but with these
exceptions the activity on behalf of children is justified on many
grounds. But above all, it is manifest that a rapidly growing nation,
finding homes for thousands of foreigners and their children annually,
must use every means of rapidly educating their new citizens, and the
public library is one of the most efficient and ready ways of
accomplishing this great national object.”
While the remainder of the article, devoted to libraries in non-English
speaking countries, is of less immediate interest to the average
library assistant, it should be read with care for the perspective it
will help to give. We should know more of our historical background and
here is an excellent place to get a bird’s eye view of the whole
library movement. The account of the Bibliothèque Nationale and other
libraries of Paris, is very complete and contains references and
statistics not generally available. The description of the Berlin
libraries is less full, but satisfactory. The Italian libraries come in
for their share of attention, and the article ends with accounts of the
library movement and the noteworthy libraries in Latin America, Spain
and Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia, China and Japan. The article as
a whole will bear reading several times and can be consulted constantly
with full-reliance upon its detailed information.
In addition to the above there are articles which have a special
interest for different classes of library workers. The cataloger will
want to read what is said on the =Index=, where a high compliment is
paid “American enterprise” for the modern device of the card catalog
cabinet, and the Library of Congress for its printed card work. The
assistant in the periodical room ought to read the article on
=Periodicals= by Mr. Tedder, which deals chiefly with publications
devoted to general literature, literary and critical reviews, and
magazines for the supply of miscellaneous reading. It takes up in
historical sequence the British quarterlies, monthlies, weeklies,
modern magazines and cheap publications; then those of the United
States, Canada and other British possessions, France, Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
Portugal, Greece, Russia and other countries. Under the caption of
=Caricature= Mr. M. H. Spielman writes entertainingly concerning the
popular illustrated periodicals of Great Britain, France, Germany and
the United States. In the latter section he sketches the rise of Thomas
Nast, discusses the influence of _Life_, and the work of C. D. Gibson
and A. B. Frost. In his paragraph on =Cartoon= Mr. Spielman says that
John Leech’s drawing in No. 105 of _Punch_ was the first caricature to
be called a “cartoon.” After a while _Punch_ dropped the latter word
but the public took it up. The information concerning =Newspapers= has
been garnered by several hands. Mr. Hugh Chisholm, the editor of the
present edition of the Britannica, and for some years connected with
the London _Times_, writes the first installment entitled “General
considerations” giving the historical development of the newspaper
(particularly the English) from the Oxford Gazette of 1665, through the
days of the “leading article” by prominent writers, down to the time of
the “news agencies.” The present status of journalism, with its well
developed commercial side, is passed in review, and the influence of
American journalism is duly set forth. The cheapening of paper, which
within one generation dropped from 22 cents to as low as 1-1/2 cents a
pound, is shown to have had the obvious tendency of increasing the size
of newspapers and reducing the price. The attitude of some English
newspaper publishers towards news of the turf is instructive to
American librarians who have read of the “blocking out” of sporting
tips deemed necessary in some English libraries. The simultaneous
growth of the cheap newspaper throughout the civilized world is
commented upon by Lord Northcote in two interpolated paragraphs, which
are followed by some remarks on =Illustrated Papers= by Mr. Clement K.
Shorter. The remainder of the article by Mr. Chisholm consists of a
very full account of British newspapers (in which certain portions of
the article by Edward Edwards, of library fame, in the earlier edition
of the Britannica, have been incorporated) followed by an historical
sketch of those of the United States, of France, Germany and other
European countries.
Much of the information presented by Prof. E. G. Ravenstein under the
caption =Map= is of immediate interest to all of us. It treats in turn
of the classification and scale of maps, delineation of the ground,
selection of names and orthography, measurement on maps, relief maps,
map printing, history of cartography, and topographical surveys. The
reading of what Mr. H. R. Tedder has to say on =Pamphlets= may make the
library assistant who has to handle them more kindly disposed toward
this class of publications. There is nothing like knowing the history
of a subject to incite interest in it.
The bibliographies appended to each article will enable the inquiring
and ambitious assistant to pursue further such phases of the questions
involved as may make the stronger appeal; but the source of the
greatest satisfaction is that the workers in the smaller libraries,
where but little of the literature of librarianship is to be found, can
find within the covers of the Encyclopædia Britannica a conspectus of
authoritative statements on many matters of professional interest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEX.
Page.
Adams, Hannah, 8
American Library Association, 13
Analyticals, 35-36
Assistants, 17, 61-62
Astor, John Jacob, 9
Astor, William B., 10
Astor Library, 9
Author entry, 33-34
Bates, Joshua, 9
Bibliography, 73-74
Bigelow, John, 11
Billings, Dr. John Shaw, 12
Binding, 51-52, 71
Book, 68-89
Book binding, 71-72
Book buying, 20, 23-24
Book collecting, 74
Book selection, 20-23
Book selling, 72
Booklist, 22
Book-plates, 72
Boston Athenæum, 8
Boston Public Library, 8
Bostwick, A. E., 20
Bradshaw, Henry, 16
Burton, John Hill, 10
Cards, catalog, 36-37
Care of books, 52-53
Caricature, 77
Carnegie, Andrew, 12
Cataloging, 33-38
Child, Mrs. Lydia Maria, 8
Children, work with, 54-58
Circulation, 49-50
Classification, 25-32
Cloth, 52
Cogswell, Joseph G., 10, 12, 22
Collecting, 74
Crawford, Esther, 37
Cutter, Charles A., 29, 35
Dana, John Cotton, 41-42
Dewey, Melvil, 29-32
Documents, 46-49
Duché, Rev. Jacob, 7
Edwards, Edward, 16
Encyclopædia Britannica, 67-78
Everett, Edward, 9
Foster, W. E., 22
Gaillard, Edwin White, 59
Garnett, Richard, 10
High school library, 59-66
Hitchler, Theresa, 37-38
Illuminated manuscripts, 68
Illustrated papers, 78
Illustrations, 70-71
Incunabula, 69
India paper, 68
Instruction, 63
Leather, 51-52
Lenox, James, 11
Lenox Library, 11
Librarian, duties of, 16-17, 61
Libraries, 74-77
Library instruction, 63-65, 66
Library Journal, 13
Library staff, 17
Library work, 17-19
Loan systems, 49-50
Logan, James, 7
McAndrew, William, 65
Manuscripts, 67
Maps, 78
Michigan, 14-15
Mitchell, Donald G., 10
New York Public Library, 12
Newspapers, 77-78
Oregon library commission, 65
Organization of a library, 16
Palæography, 67
Pamphlets, 78
Paper, 68
Papyrus, 68
Periodicals, 77
Philadelphia Library Company, 7
Poole’s Index, 45-46
Printing, 69
Process, 70
Proof reading, 70
Public documents, 46-49
Public libraries, spread of, 13
Publishing, 73
Putnam, Herbert, 19
Reader’s Guide, 45-46
Reference books, 42-45
Reference work, 39-42
Ridgeway Library, 7
Rules, 55
Rush, Dr. James, 7
St. Louis Public Library, 20
School libraries, 59-66
Schools, work with, 56
State documents, 49
State library commissions, 14
Stevens, Henry, 11
Story hours, 57
Subject entries, 34-35
Sumner, Charles, 11
Teacher and the library, 65
Ticknor, George, 9
Tilden, Samuel J., 11
Traveling libraries, 14
Trustees, 16
Typography, 69
Use of the library, 62-63
Vattemare, Alexandre, 8
Winsor, Justin, 16
Winthrop, Robert C., 8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
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End of Project Gutenberg's The Library Assistant's Manual, by Theodore W. Koch