The meeting of the section was held at the Chateau Laurier, Tuesday
morning, July 2. Mr. M. S. Dudgeon, chairman of the section, presided.
Mr. FRANK K. WALTER gave an account of the new quarters and resources
of the New York state library school.
Mr. Walter said that the new quarters in the new State Education
building would probably be ready by October first of the present year,
and would provide the most spacious rooms belonging to any library
school. The present temporary quarters, however, are comfortable and
fairly commodious. A good working collection of reference books and
trade and subject bibliographies has already replaced that destroyed by
fire. When present orders have been filled the new collection will be
better than the old.
The collection of illustrative material, thanks to the untiring
industry of Miss Florence Woodworth, is growing by leaps and bounds.
About 4,000 administrative blanks and forms are mounted and classified
and a large number are as yet unmounted. About 1,400 pictures and plans
of library buildings (including post-cards) are mounted and filed.
There is an excellent collection of works on bookmaking, ancient and
modern, and a fair number of examples of printing of various periods
and of beautifully bound books. About 150 mounts show binding material,
book illustrations, type faces and other material illustrating printing
and binding processes.
Mention must be made of the "Alumni collection" which the New York
State Library Association is collecting for the school. Its aim is "to
cover all books, pamphlets, clippings, etc., written by students of the
school and biographical or professional material relating to them,"
together with portraits of the students and library buildings erected
under their supervision.
The "class work collection" numbers about 2,300 volumes and is intended
primarily for class use, particularly in cataloging, classification and
subject headings, in selection of books, and in printing and binding.
All of this material is listed in a separate dictionary catalog
prepared expressly for the school's use. More than 10,000 cards are
already included in this catalog which is growing rapidly as more
material becomes available for use.
The collections of the New York State library will be available as
soon as the new building is ready. Including such documents and other
volumes as can be temporarily shelved for use, upwards of 200,000
volumes will probably be available. These include an excellent set of
United States documents, a very fair collection of state documents,
many important foreign documents, and a good working collection of
statutes, law reports, legal periodicals and legal treatises.
Mention must also be made of the 700 annuals and serials (including
reports, bulletins, etc.), on various phases of library work which
are currently received and filed and of about 500 bound English and
American periodical sets (including most of those listed in the
various periodical indexes) besides the numerous foreign periodicals,
transactions, etc., currently received.
Miss AGNES VAN VALKENBURGH, instructor in cataloging at the library
school of the New York public library, read a paper on