I have been advised that there is only one thing more ruinous to one's
reputation than an absent debut to the American Library Association
conference, and that is to inflict a maiden paper upon someone else to
read. But after absorbing some of Mr. Legler's courage and optimism,
I cannot refrain from treading upon this dangerous ground and setting
forth a few pet theories. I do not know that Sears, Roebuck & Company
needs an introduction or an explanation, but as the character, combined
with the magnitude of the house, is quite unique, and is such a vital
part of the library work, the foundation of this paper, as well as of
the work itself, must of necessity be predicated upon some knowledge of
the house machinery.
We are dealing with a mail order retail house, and this paper will
be based upon the central plant only. The existence of the outlying
factories, not only in Chicago but throughout the country, all under
the control of one corporation, opens up a new field in commercial
library work, which to my knowledge has never been touched.
The house handles everything--that does not mean the usual stock of
a department store, but everything that can be bought and sold. New
opportunities arise as your eye wanders down the list of the various
departments. Our house directory lists over 200 departments, including
jewelry, baby clothes, and farm implements. In fact, a home can be
furnished complete from parlor to stables.
Besides the merchandise, we have the various administration and
utility departments, which include press rooms, bindery, machine
shops, shipping rooms, employment department, restaurant, green house,
hospital, barber shop, chemical laboratory, etc. With this cosmopolitan
center, condensed under one management, there is no limit to library
possibilities. My experience so far has been that everything in print
can find a congenial resting place somewhere in the house.
The central plant occupies three square blocks, including five
buildings and a sixth in the process of construction. The largest of
these, the merchandise building, is nine stories high and two blocks
long, and is a condensed village in population and activity. The
library is located next to one of the most popular sections in this
building, the employees' and house sales department. In this section
employees are obliged to call for their personal purchases. This is an
added convenience and a time saving arrangement. The printing building,
administration building, power house and paint factory complete the
group of this seething little city, and make one wish that a branch
library might be established in every corner.
Our library is primarily a deposit branch of the Chicago public
library. We have about 1600 books on deposit, which give us a
circulation of about 4000 a month. In addition to that, our daily
express service gives us the resources of the main library stock, and
makes it possible to send individual cards with specific requests
through the station department. This is a great help in making out
lists on special topics, as 25 or 30 books on a subject may be
listed and drawn one after the other without further reference. Our
circulation for these books runs from between 75 to 100 a day.
In addition to our public library books, we have about a thousand
of our own. About 75 per cent. of this collection is light fiction
and juvenile books; that is, stories for both boys and girls of the
intermediate age. Books of this character are, of course, in the
greatest demand, and it is for the right kind of this material that we
are constantly searching. This supplementary collection of our own does
not in any way detract from our public library books, but rather serves
as added bait and leads to the better books of the public library, upon
whose resources we depend for our existence.
We subscribe for about 40 monthly and weekly periodicals, both
technical and popular. In addition to these, we have several shelves
of miscellaneous magazines, composed of month-old copies sent out from
the main library, as well as our own old copies, and donations from
the employees. All of these magazines we circulate. In fact, we are in
no sense a reading room, as the very nature of a busy 8-hour day and
45-minute lunch period will prove. Our charging tray and a few pieces
of furniture are the only things we refuse to let go to the homes or
departments.
In taking charge of the library last fall, I realized that there were
two distinct phases of the work: the commercial or economic, and the
social--the first to be established, the second to be developed--both
sides equally interesting and offering equal possibilities.
The commercial value must be established not only by becoming familiar
with the policy of the house, but by co-operating with the heads of
departments and making the library felt as a live agent throughout the
house.
Co-operation is best established by the reference work which can to a
large extent be created. For instance: One of the buyers in the supply
department is dealing with two agents for rubber bands. The contract
is a big one. There is much discussion as to which make of rubber
band will live the longer. In self-defence, the buyer telephones the
library for any information on rubber. Right here is the librarian's
chance to make or mar. Perhaps this buyer has no library card, but at
the eleventh hour has thought of the library as a last resource. There
is one sure way to cure him of ever using the library again, and to
persuade this time-pressed business man that the library is a plaything
done up in red tape, and that is to send word to him that he must come
personally to the library, sign an application, and wait for the book
according to our library law. He will probably decide to take a chance
on the merits of the rubber bands, and condemn the library as an agent
of too slow blood for his purposes.
The point is to get the information and to get it at once to the right
man. If we can find something on our own shelves, a boy is sent with
the book at once, even if he carries an encyclopaedia with him. If, as
often happens, we are not so fortunate, a signal of distress is sent
over the 'phone to the reference librarian at the main library, and
she sends out material on the next delivery. Not only does this apply
to the buyer of rubber bands, but to the chemist who wants material on
fabrics, textiles, and lubricating oils; to the manager of the grocery
department, on the blending of coffee; to the furniture buyer, on
cabinet making and period furniture; to the head of the agricultural
department on the silo and the traction engine; to the clerk in the
shipping department, on parcels post; to the girl in the correspondence
department, on punctuation; to the boy in the automobile repair shop,
on the gas engine; and so on indefinitely. A memorandum of these
requests makes a busy day for the weekly visit to the reference room
at the main library. Books of interest on each particular subject are
listed, even to government bulletins. We have even had intrusted to our
care material from the public document department, and Mr. Legler's
liberality has given us an economic value that will be the stepping
stone to a new work, and make the library a factor to be reckoned with
by the progressive commercial house.
In our library, as well as in any other, the reference work is not
confined to the books alone. The value of magazine material is an old
story, but its worth is self-evident in a progressive business house
whose aim is to anticipate future contingencies as well as to meet
present needs. Before discarding magazines, all the usable material is
appropriated and sent to the man or woman interested. Not only does
this apply to the man's business, but to his hobbies--a little article
for instance, on poultry raising or photographic chemistry will often
create public opinion very favorable to the library. So far we have not
kept a clipping file of these articles, but that is one of the next
steps that could be made quite an important feature.
To keep in touch with the buyers and department heads, the newest books
on subjects of special interest stimulate not only the men in charge,
who are always ready to respond to new ideas, but arouse new interest
among all employees and indirectly lead to promotion through more
efficient work. These books are sent right to the department, either
to be examined with a view to buying, or, if already purchased, to be
circulated in the department. We find that in this way we lose few if
any books and our time-honored statistics do not suffer.
And so in many little ways it is possible to creep into the commercial
life of an immense concern; to develop gradually from a convenience to
a necessity.
The social side of our work is perhaps a misnomer. At least, it is an
intangible sort of thing that has no name. Our reason for existence
is the same as for any other public library--that is, for the common
good. To do any grade of work other than simply handing the books over
the counter, it is necessary first of all to become familiar with the
personnel of our employees. We have about 8500 employees, and to become
personally acquainted with each is, of course, impossible. However, a
surprisingly large number can be reached on this footing, and the rest
is a question of time combined with a sane democratic attitude. We do
not want our people to feel that reform through the library is one of
the rules on the application blank, or that the librarian's stamp of
approval must go out with every book. Advice, so labeled, is never
given.
Of our 8500 employees, one-half are girls varying in education from
grammar school to college graduates. One-fifth of this number are
under 18 years of age. The work with this last group is intensely
interesting, and can be developed in many ways. We have, of course, the
usual problem, in trying to direct from Mary J. Holmes and Southworth
to a better grade of reading. However, we are not working in the dark
to the same extent as is the usual public library. Our girls are all
banded together with a common interest, and we are at once on the same
big plane. We have access to them at any time of the day. We are a
part of the thing most vital to them--their daily work and means of
support. They come to the library during the noon hour for a change of
scene and to see the other girls, as well as to exchange their books.
We give them books for their parties and books for their night school
classes. A girl is told by her employer that she will lose her position
unless she learns to use good English. In desperation, she comes to the
library, and we give her a book, yes, even three books, if she needs
them, to help her keep her position. Another girl must be transferred
to a less desirable position unless she can increase her vocabulary in
order to take dictation more intelligently. She is advised to come to
the library, and we are there to see that she gets the right books. The
next time she may come without being sent. The girls come to us to find
out when the lake boats begin their trips, as well as to find desirable
places in which to spend vacations. And so we welcome them each time
they come, regardless of what their errand may be, for we want them
to feel that the library is theirs, and is a convenience as well as a
pleasure.
The work with the girls is so varied, and is such a study in itself,
that I have only touched upon its possibilities. However, a book on the
subject would not cover the field, but lack of time and consideration
for your feelings will prevent further comment, and I will simply
outline just a few of the ways in which we try to reach the boys,
one-third of whom are under 21 years of age. Aside from the eternal
vigilance to blot out all Alger traces, we have many really interesting
phases of the work with the boys. We first of all can and do have
confidence in the boys. We can get necessary information as to their
home conditions, if we wish it. We have, in common with them, as with
the girls, their vital interest, the beginning of their career. The
influence that can be exerted over these young boys, many of whom are
leaving home for the first time, and are, so to speak, "men among
men," is tremendous. Often a wavering ambition can be reinforced and a
chance for "making good" saved by showing a little unasked interest.
We try to give the boys material for both work and play. We post lists
of books on the bulletin boards in various departments, and so call
attention to books on "choosing a career," or "business efficiency."
Then we make up lists on athletic sports, interest in which is
stimulated by our athletic association, whose membership includes both
boys and girls.
Many times a department is discovered where little or no interest is
taken in the library. We find that the boys and girls from there never
come to the library, and so we take the library to them. In every case
the managers are very anxious to co-operate and are willing to have us
send a small collection of light fiction to the time clerk's desk. She
circulates these as she wishes. So far, we have lost no books in this
way, and in every instance new borrowers have been the direct result.
Many of the boys have been obliged to leave school before entering high
school or even the upper grades, and in many ways we can supplement
their lack of school training--especially if we can discover a gleam of
interest in any one subject, such as mechanics, electricity or history.
All our work, our aims, and our possibilities are crystalized in our
Library Bulletin, a home product in every sense of the word. The
direct object of this little publication is to attract all ages and
all classes of our employees. It is sent to every department, and from
there distributed personally. We try to have in each issue a section to
appeal to popular demand, as well as to promote some special feature.
We hope to make this bulletin a strong factor in our work, a lever
that will gauge not only the circulation of our books, but will be the
connecting link between the library and the employees, and make it the
medium of a new energy and a new enthusiasm radiating from our small
quarters to every activity of the plant.
And so, in these few pages, I have tried to show that the commercial
house library, although in its infancy, has come to stay. And as the
pioneering becomes more and more an established fact in library work,
more commercial houses will recognize the need. They will be more than
ready to respond to the progressive public libraries, whose efforts
to expand and to bring their resources to the very centers of civic
activity will thus establish a more intelligent relationship and
efficient co-operation with their very means of support.
Miss Grace A. Whare, of the Houghton, Mich., public library, was
present at the meeting and asked the privilege of presenting a very
attractive exhibit of colored slides and illustrations which she
used in telling Miss Lagerlöf's Story of Nils. Each of twenty-six
illustrations depicted an adventure of Nils.
=Business Meeting=
The regular business meeting of the section was held at Chateau
Laurier, June 29th at 9:30 a. m. Miss McCurdy presided.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted. The chairman
announced that the terms of two of the five members on the advisory
board had expired and that only one member was appointed at the
last meeting, instead of two. This raised the question as to the
advisability of having an advisory board since none of the other
sections had such boards. It was urged that an executive committee be
formed consisting of the three officers of the section and two other
members to be appointed by the chairman, and that all the members of
this executive committee be actually engaged in some phase of library
work with children. It was finally decided, however, to continue the
advisory board as heretofore and the chairman was requested to appoint
members to fill the vacancies. Mr. Hill and Miss Titcomb were appointed
to serve for three years each. The chairman appointed the following
committee on nomination for officers: Annie S. Cutter, Gertrude Andrus
and Adah Whitcomb. The meeting then adjourned.