Chapter XV: Part 15

A kind of standardization of which we can not have too little is that controlled by the man who takes himself as the standard--his own ideas, prejudices and habits. This kind of standardizer is not always aware of what he is doing. He believes that his methods are the best. They may be best for him and possibly for the particular environment in which he has been working. I am not sure that some of our most cherished library habits did not originate in this way--were not originally simply the personal whims of some able and forceful library administrator who was in a position, in the formative stage of library progress, to impress them on the fabric of our work. Fortunately for us, the men of this kind, in the early history of the library movement, were not only men of force but generally of common-sense as well. Possibly their habits and customs were as good as any others that we might have adopted. I am sure that they were better than some. But individual points of view may in some cases prove disastrous. I remember an English novel in which a local librarian personally interested in the history of the French Revolution, uses all the available funds of his institution for years to buy books on the subject, building up a fine collection, but making his library useless for its ordinary purposes. His successor, a man with other interests, threw out the whole collection. I have often wondered which of these two librarians one ought to condemn most. Both are examples of the injury that may be done by what we may call auto-standardization.

I am preparing this whole lecture with a fear that some one of this kind may think he is adapting his library to his locality when he is only standardizing it by himself. Self-deception may go far in matters of this kind, and there is something to be said in favor of hard and fast standardization without departure of any kind, in that it prevents aberrations such as I have just hinted at. I trust that no self-standardizer is in my present audience.

Our conclusion from all this should be, I think, that a library should not only assimilate its methods to those of other libraries--which is standardization, but should react to the needs and conditions of its own surroundings, which is localization. If you would know the extent of this local reaction and the character of its results, ask the members of the library’s community, especially if that community is small. And we must remember that no library community is large, so far as its direct popular use is concerned. Whether it is in a village or a city, whether it is a central library or a branch, it is effective as a community centre only within a small circle, of perhaps half a mile radius. The residents of this circle are in a position to give testimony regarding the library’s local services. If it has succeeded in adapting itself to local needs its reputation will be that of a valuable, helpful, well-disposed institution; if not, the neighbors will be hostile, or at least indifferent. Libraries that are in constant trouble with their readers--the object of continual complaint and controversy, generally have the feeling that the fault is with the public. Sometimes it is; for a maladjustment is seldom on one side alone. But more often it is chiefly due to the fact that the library has overlooked its purely local functions, while possibly at the same time conforming most admirably to what are considered the best library standards. No library can afford to neglect its special duties to its locality and if these conflict with standardization, it should be the general standards and not the local adjustments, that should go by the board.

INDEX

Administration, Cost of, 217

Advertising. General, 277;
In the library, 35, 172

Age limit for children, 210

Allen, James Lane, quoted, 66

A. L. A. catalog, 422;
President’s address, 121

American Library Institute, 418

American idea of delegated authority, 57;
Of propriety, 133

Americans as money-lovers, 156

Antin, Mary, quoted, 423

Appointments, 95

Appropriation for books, 24

Architecture of libraries, 315

Art, Not intellectual, 331

Assassins, Persian sect, 129

Autograph collections, 398

Auto-standardization, 425

Badness, Three kinds in books, 207

Beginners, Message to, 357

Beresford, J. D., quoted, 372

Best books defined, 141

_Biblia abiblia_, 288

Bibliographies for book selection, 19

Binding, Choice of, 25

Boards of trustees, 39, 49, 93

Book committees, 22, 147

Book-lovers, 99

Book selection, 17, 125;
Raising standard of, 141

Book-taught Bilkins, 106

Books, Distribution of, 30;
Love of, 97;
Waste of, 163;
Influence of locality on stock of, 411

Booksellers’ League (N.Y.), 85

Boston Public Library, 186

Boston Transcript, 419

Bowdoin College library, 394

Branch dep’t., Jurisdiction of, 233

Branch libraries, 93, 421;
Gifts of sites, 178

Brooklyn Public Library, 12;
Scheme of service, 189

Bryan, William J., 270

Buildings, Future, 81;
Standardization of, 415

Bulletins, Picture, 31, 402

Business man’s library, 269

Ca’Canny policy, 155

Carlyle, Thomas, quoted, 64

Carnegie, Andrew, Gifts of, 90;
quoted, 105

Carnegie Committee, Requirements of, criticized, 417

Cash-registers, 11

Cataloguing, Local modifications of, 419

Catholics and the library, 300

Censor, Librarian as a, 121

Center, Definition of, 111;
Functions of, 114

Chance, Definition of, 374

Charging systems, 420

Chestnut Hill Branch, Phila., 416

Children, Work with, 85

Children’s department, Jurisdiction of, 233

Christian Scientists and the library, 301

Church and library, 299

Churches, Duplication of, 344

Circulation, Statistics of, 75;
At long range, 221

Civic League, St. Louis, 405

Civil Service Commission, N.Y., 190

Civil Service in libraries, 183

Class-percentages, Comparison of, 148

Classification of work, 222

Clippings, 399

Closed-shelf issue, 221

Commercial system in libraries, 160

Conflicts of jurisdiction, 231, 351

Connecticut State Library, 415

Contract system, 94

Cost of libraries, 85

Cyclopedia, Library as a, 146

Dana, John C., quoted, 261, 317

Decameron, criticized, 137

Delivery service, Frequent, 228

Delivery station work, 221

Detroit branches, 416

Distributer, Library as a, 29

Dont’s, for book-selectors, 150

Downtown branch, 228

Drudgery, 102

Duns on postal cards, 13

Duplication, Sin of, 341

Education, 257;
Through libraries, 59, 87;
University of, 111

Educational center, Library as, 111

Educational results, 52

Efficiency records, 199;
quoted, 385

Eliot, Charles W., quoted, 80

Envelopes for filing, 400

Ephemeral books, 34, 89, 104

Examinations, 186

Exclusion of books, Grounds for, 122;
Of readers, 242

Exhibits in a library, 397

Expenditures, Division of, 418

Experiments, 370, 389

Expert advisers for book-selection, 125, 145

Experts, Control by, 40, 49

Exploitation of libraries, 321

Extension of library service, 365

Falsity in books, 123

Feed-wires, Compared with books, 168

Fiction, Appraisal of, 23;
Selection of, 147

Finance, 51;
Statistics of, 73

Fines, 4

Forbes Library, 419

Force, Fields of, 115

Forecasts, 310

Foreign books, 133

Formalism in libraries, 290, 320

French ideas of propriety, 132

Genius, Definitions of, 64

Gerould, Mrs., quoted, 291

Gifts, Undesirable, 173

Gil Bias, criticized, 137

Glennon, John J., 274

Godard, George, 415

Grades in the staff, 186

Grant, Ulysses S., Life of, 380

Greenwich Village, New York

City, Library in, 424

Group-education, 116

Group-psychology, 285

Group-value of collections, 402

Groups, Recognition of, 315

Harrisburg Public Library, 416

Hicks, Frederick C., quoted, 261, 264

Hierarchy, Control by a, 42

High Bridge Branch, New York City, 416

House-to-house delivery, 87

Houses, Index to, 415

Hungarian books, 368

Hysteresis, 269

Imponderables, 260

Income from fines, 7

Indecency and immorality distinguished, 127

Indianapolis Public Library, Address at opening, 283

Initiative, Need of, 361

Insurance, A relief of “ill luck,” 390

Interest and initiative, 384

Inventory, 70, 74

Jackson Square Branch, New York City, 416

James, William, quoted, 117, 260

Japanese, Heritage of, 167

Kent, William, quoted, 206

Kipling, Rudyard, quoted, 168

Language, Best of, 142

Lantern-slides, 404

Lay control in libraries, 39, 49

Lecky, W. H. H., 128

Lectures, Collections taken at, 175

Lenox Library, 393

Librarians, Three kinds of, 241

Librarians’ libraries, 50

Library, The small, 29;
And the business man, 269;
The subscription, 293

Library schools, 95

Library work, Future of, 309

Local history, 413;
Material, 117

Locality, Library and, 409

Luck in the library, 373

Lutherans and the library, 301

Machine-work, 157

Mal-employment in the library, 205

Mallock, W. H., Quoted, 153

Mayer, Dr. Alfred G., quoted, 357

Medical officers, 380

Meetings in libraries, 314

Militarism, Union against, 271

Miller, Elsie, quoted, 224

Missionary work of libraries, 313

Morgan, J. P., 390, 394

Moving pictures, 285

Museum, Library as a, 393

Music, Popularization of, 325

Mutilation of books, 14

Napoleon, Anecdote of, 373

Nationalization of libraries, 310

New Haven Public Library, 416

New York, Consolidation of libraries in, 350

New York Free Circulating Library. Scheme of service, 185

New York Public Library, 312, 422;
Science circulation, 18;
Scheme of service, 192

Newman, Cardinal, quoted, 66

Newspaper science, 124

Newspapers, 105

Ninety-Sixth St. Branch, New York City, 425

Non-partizanship, 180, 270;
In book selection, 126

Omission, Sin of, 341

Open shelf libraries, 82

Organization of idleness, 153

Othello criticized, 137

Overdue books, 8

Pains and penalties, 3

Pay-duplicate system, 6

Pearson, B. L., 419;
quoted, 208

Phonograph records, 336, 405

Photographs, Local, 414

Pianola rolls, 336, 405

Plates as museum material, 396, 397

Play defined, 112

Poe, Edgar A., 284

Poetry, Increased taste for, 283

Poets, libraries and realities, 283

Political interference with libraries, 320

Popularization of information, 123;
Of libraries, 310

Portland, Ore., branches, 417

Postal-card material, 400

Postal-cards, Illegal, 13

Prairie psychology, 294

Private collections indexed, 415

Problem novel, 130

Professional training, 318

Professionalization of libraries, 310

Profit in a library, 161

Promotions, 186

Property, Waste of, 163

Public Control by, 42, 49;
What is it? 91

Public-opinion, Power of, 166

Publicity, 35, 280, 304

Publishers’ Weekly, 20

Racial or social status? 423

Readers, Statistics of, 76

Reading of music, 326

Realism, 285

Recreation through libraries, 60

Recreational results, 53

Reference use, Statistics of, 75

Registration, size and growth, 36

Reich, Emil, quoted, 118

Repetition in fiction, 347

Reputation, Importance of, 165

Reserves, Unlocking of, 117

Reviews, 21

Riley, James Whitcomb, 283

Riverside Public Library, Cal., 416

Rules, 352;
Authority for, 12

St. Louis Pageant, 407

St. Louis plan (pay duplicate), 6

St. Louis Public Library, 314, 367, 396;
Efficiency records, 200;
Scheme of service, 194

Savage, Characteristics of, 357

Scholarship in libraries, 287

School and library, 60, 88

School, Function of, 113

School libraries, 255

Scrapbooks, 399

Screens for display, 397

Service systems, 183

Shaw, George Bernard, 127

Sight-reading, 333

Simplicity, Best of, 142

Smith, Munroe, quoted, 259

Social results, 55

Socialists, Mistake of, 155

Socialization of libraries, 310

Special libraries, 316

Standardization, Limits of, 409

Statistics, 69, 161;
Use of in book-purchase, 412

Sumner, William G., quoted, 133

Sunday school libraries, 301

Superficiality defined, 135

System, Magazine, 280

System in the library, 153

Talk, Unnecessary, 214

Taste, Cultivation of, 33, 329;
Test of 142

Telephone use, 274

Text-books, Composite, 264;
Unsatisfactory, 124

Textiles, 400

Theft of books, 14

Time, Waste of, 163, 353

Trade-lists, 19

Travelling libraries, 86

Triviality, 135

Trustees, 39, 49

Trustees’ Section, A. L. A., 44, 49

Truth in advertising, 278;
In books, 123;
As a test, 142

Turgenief as a realist, 347

Vacations, 212, 215

Vincent, George B., quoted, 116

Volta Review, quoted, 265

Walmsley, H. R., quoted, 265

Wister, Owen, quoted, 132

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Read at the Magnolia Conference of the American Library Association, June, 1902.

[2] Figures for 1901.

[3] Read before the Trustees’ Section of the American Library Association at the Niagara Conference, 1903.

[4] An address before the Trustees’ Section of the American Library Association, Narragansett Conference, 1906.

[5] Presidential address before the New York Library Association, Lake Placid, September 21, 1903.

[6] Read before the Pennsylvania Library Club, Philadelphia, May 9, 1904.

[7] Read before the New York State Library Association, Twilight Park, September, 1906.

[8] Presidential address before the American Library Association, Lake Minnetonka Conference, June, 1908.

[9] Read at a meeting of the library commissions of the New England States, Hartford, Conn., February 11, 1909.

[10] Read before the Missouri State Library Association, Columbia, October 28, 1909.

[11] Address before the American Library Association at the Pasadena Conference, May 19, 1911.

[12] Read before the Iowa Library Association.

[13] Report to the American Library Institute.

[14] Read before the round table of branch libraries at the Washington conference, May 28, 1914.

[15] Read before the Missouri Library Association, Sedalia, November 18, 1914.

[16] A luncheon address to the Advertising Club of St. Louis.

[17] Address at the opening of the new building of the Indianapolis Public Library.

[18] Read before the National Association of Music Teachers and reprinted from the published Proceedings for 1918.