Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

Butte, Montana
Atlanta
Pittsburgh
East Orange
Forbes Library
Jacksonville, Florida
Lincoln Library, Springfield
Los Angeles
New York
Pratt Institute
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
Seattle
Washington

College or University

Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.
Westminster College, Fulton, Mo.
Harvard
Kansas
Syracuse
Tulane

State Libraries

Indiana
Iowa
New York
Virginia

Special Library

John Crerar, Chicago

Society Libraries

Medical Society of the County of Kings
New York Society
New York Bar Association (accession only)

We give below the questions sent out with a summary of the various answers by numbers. The original blanks are on file at A. L. A. headquarters, showing answers in greater detail, together with the names of the answering libraries.

Summary of Reports on Accession Routine

[Harvard University library did not answer each question in detail, as it keeps no accession record in the usual sense. A record is kept each day of the number of volumes and pamphlets received by gift and by purchase, from which statistics are made up at the end of the year. A file of continuation cards for annual reports and similar continued publications and a record of gifts from individuals are useful supplements to the daily record. Bills for books are filed alphabetically under dealer's name each year, and order slips, giving agent, date of order and date of receipt, are preserved.]

(1) When do you accession, before or after cataloging?
Before cataloging--14.

(2) Are all books that are cataloged accessioned? Affirmative,
24 (exception, 11).

(3) What method of keeping your accession record do you use?

All use accession book except Los Angeles and Forbes
Library, which use bill method, and Washington, D. C.,
which uses order cards as accession record.

East Orange does not believe accession =book= essential.

Pittsburgh, which accessions only adult books, is inclined
to believe book unnecessary. Their method of treating
juveniles is especially interesting.

Seattle notes that their book has fewer items than the A.
L. A., and says the use of order cards as accession
record is an excellent method.

(4) Which of the following items do you enter in your
accession record?

The number following the item indicates the number of
libraries reporting its use:--Author, 19; title, 18;
publisher, 17; place of publication, 13; date of
publication, 18; size, 10; edition, 13; number of
volumes, 23; binding, 11; publisher's price, 8; cost,
18; source, 20; date of bill, 10; date of entry, 14.

(5) Do you enter facts about re-binding in the accession record?

Affirmative, 3; negative, 20.

(6) a. Do you use your accession record to obtain statistics of
additions?

Affirmative, 19; negative, 5.

b. What items do you include?

Some of these questions were not answered, so it is
inferred that the statistics obtained are for total
additions only. Following items were reported
on:--Class, 7; source, 8; branch, 2; language, 2;
circulating or reference, 2; adult and juvenile, 2.

(7) Do you maintain a numerical record of accessions according
to classification? Department or branches? Does it cover
expenditures for each main class? Department or branches?

Negative, 14; record according to classification, 6; branch
or department, 3; separate record of expenditures, 4.

(8) Where do you place accession number?

Page after title page, 6; title page, 3; title page and
first page, 1; title page and page 101, 1; book plate
and page after title page, 1.

(9) Do you write price and date of bill as well as accession
number in the book. Do you write cost of a set in the first
volume?

Affirmative, 6; negative, 13 (both questions); cost, 1;
date, affirmative, 3; negative, 1; cost in volume 1 of
set, 6.

(10) How do you indicate the branch or department to which a
book is assigned?

Not indicated, or there is no branch, 14; stamped or indicated
in accession book, 5; books stamped or marked, 5; separate
accession book for each branch, 3; order card and book
stamped, 2.

(11) In case of replacements do you keep a record of the
accession number which has been replaced or do you regard
replacement as if it were an added entry or duplicate,
disregarding old number entirely?

Replacement is regarded as an added entry or duplicate, and
no record kept of the old number, 16; New number given
to replacement but make note of the number replaced, 6;
Old number used, 3.

Butte, Mont., reports:

"We enter each new copy in the shelf list as copy 2-3,
etc., keeping a record of each book."

New York City Bar Association reports:

"Do not use numbers, but dates. A book added to replace
is not counted for the annual statistics."

(12) Do you note in the accession record when a book is
withdrawn, or do you keep a withdrawal book?

Note in accession record, 9; note on shelf list, 4; note
in accession book and keep withdrawal book, 3; have
withdrawal book, 2; have no withdrawals, 2; files
book cards, 1; keeps record on cards, 1; keeps cards
withdrawn from public catalog, 1; not noted at all, 2.

New York City Bar Association reports:

"We keep all books except in very rare cases. The only
notes made are in catalogs and in statistical record."

Summary of Reports on Charging Systems

1. What charging system do you use?

Newark system, 12; Brown system, 2; Borrower's record, 2;
Single file--Book file under date or class, 4; Double
file--Borrower's file and book file, 6.

2. The process of charging.

a.1. Do you issue books on borrowers' cards? 18.

a.2. Do you charge by means of call slips? 4.

a.3. Permanent or temporary book cards? 5.

b. How many cards are issued to one borrower?

One card, 10; two cards, 4; three cards, 1;
temporary borrower's cards, 2; temporary book cards
and no borrower's cards, 9; borrower's pocket
instead of borrower's card, 1.

c. If a borrower presents his own cards and those of
others also, do you issue books on all cards presented?

Affirmative, 13; negative, 1 (cards, slips or pocket
held at the library, 12).

d. Do you issue privilege or teachers' cards?

Affirmative, 9; negative, 7.

e. How many 2-week books of fiction are charged on one
card?

e.1. One book of fiction on a card for 2 weeks--10.

Two books of fiction on a card for 2 weeks--2.

Three books of fiction on a card for 2 weeks--1.

Tulane University--Faculty can withdraw any number
at one time; students, only 3.

No discrimination between fiction and
non-fiction--3.

No limit--Virginia State.

No exact time limit--2.

e.2. One 7-day book on one card, 11; three 7-day books
on one card, 2; unlimited (East Orange), 1; no
7-day books, 2.

e.3. One 4-week book of fiction on one card, 5; two
4-week books of fiction on one card, 2; three
4-week books of fiction on one card, 2; unlimited
(East Orange), 1; none issued for 4 weeks, 6.

f. How many pay duplicate books may one borrower draw at a
time?

Number unlimited, 8; three at one time, 1; five at
one time, 1; as many as cards presented, 1.
(Libraries having no pay collection, 16.)

g. Do you issue books and magazines on the same card?

Affirmative, 14; negative, 4; no circulation of
magazines, 4.

h. How many books are issued on privilege or teachers'
cards?

Unlimited, except for fiction, 5; 12 books, 1; 10
books, 2; 5 books, 3; no special cards issued, 16.

i. Are books stamped on the date of issue--8.

Are books stamped on the date of return--10.

j. Do you use different colored pads for charging and
discharging?

Affirmative, 5; negative, 18.

k. Do you use different colored pencils for different
dates?

Affirmative, 5; negative, 19.

l. Do you use different sized type for different dates?

Affirmative, 1; negative, 24.

m. Is the assistant at the charging desk required to use a
mark or initial of identification on the book card?

Affirmative, 11; negative, 15.

n. n.1. Do you stamp fiction and non-fiction on
the same card?

Affirmative, 12; negative, 5; no distinction
made, 1.

n.2. Do you stamp fiction and non-fiction on
different parts of the same card?

Affirmative, 5.

n.3. In combination? 3.

n.4. Do you use the same colored ink for fiction
and non-fiction?

Affirmative, 9; negative, 2.

o. Are the class numbers of non-fiction written on a
teacher's or privilege card?

Affirmative, 5; negative, 4.

p. How many places do you stamp--Book card? Borrower's
card? Date flap? Book entry? Call slip?

3 stampings, book card, borrower's card, date
flap--12.

2 stampings, book card, borrower's card--2.

2 stampings, book card, date flap--3.

2 stampings, call slip, date flap--3.

1 stamping, call slip--4.

1 stamping, temporary book card--1.

1 stamping, borrower's pocket--1.

q. Do you renew books more than once?

Affirmative, 11; negative, 14.

r. Do you renew books issued for 7 days?

Affirmative, 3; negative, 15.

s. Do you renew books issued for two weeks?

Affirmative, 19; negative, 2.

t. Do you renew books issued for four weeks?

Affirmative, 12; negative, 3.

u. Is the process of renewal like original charge?

Affirmative, 19; negative, 2.

3. Counting of Circulation.

a. Do you verify your count by having it checked by a
second person?

Affirmative, 3; negative, 21; no count kept, 2.

b. Do you verify your filing in the same way?

Affirmative, 4; negative, 20.

c. Are records kept in different departments combined
daily in a single statistics record?

Affirmative, 10; negative, 7; daily and monthly, 4;
yearly count, 1.

d. Do you send collections of books for home circulation
to places outside the library?

Affirmative, 16; negative, 11.

e.1. Do the custodians of these places furnish circulation
figures?

Affirmative, 14; negative, 3.

e.2. How often? Monthly, 6; bi-monthly, 1; yearly, 3;
weekly, 1.

f. Is any record kept of the reading (not home
circulation) of these collections?

Affirmative, 2; negative, 14.

g. If no circulation figures are obtainable, do you count
the original collections sent as books issued?

Affirmative, 13; negative, 4.

h. is omitted.

i. For what periods are such collections sent on deposit?
Varied, 16; two months, 2; two weeks, 1.

4. Filing of cards.

a.1. Are fiction and non-fiction cards separated under the
day's issue?

Affirmative, 12.

a.2. Or are all cards filed in alphabetical order according
to author or otherwise.

Accession number, 1; author, 2; author and accession
number, 1; borrower's name, 2; call number on
slips, 2; class number, 6; title, 1.

b. Do you use different colored book cards?

Affirmative, 13; negative, 14.

c. Do you have separate files for 7-day cards, or do you
file them daily with 2-week books issued one week
previously--also 4-week books issued 3 weeks previously?

Separate files, 4; no separate files, 5; filed daily
with 2-week books issued one week previously, 8.

d. Do you have separate files for cards issued to
teachers? For renewed books? Foreign books?

Teachers--Affirmative, 6; negative, 17; renewed
books--Affirmative, 1; negative, 22; foreign
books--None.

e. Do you use guide cards to separate the classes of
non-fiction or do different classes have different book
cards?

Guide cards, 2; guide cards and colored book-cards, 1;
colored book cards, 4; neither, 15.

f. Have you separate files for books loaned to staff
members, trustees, etc.?

Affirmative, 8; negative, 19.

g. Are special records kept of books in quarantined houses?

Affirmative, 14; negative, 12.

h. Do you keep your file of collections loaned as deposits
separate from ordinary circulation?

Affirmative, 18; negative, 4.

5. Discharging of books.

a. Do you stamp on borrower's card or slip the date book
is returned?

Affirmative, 15; negative, 2.

b. Do you keep on file at the library all cards of
borrowers when in use?

Affirmative, 14; negative, 13.

When not in use?

Affirmative, 16; negative, 5.

c. Do you retain at the library a borrower's card on which
there is a fine?

Affirmative, 16; negative, 1.

d. Do you issue receipts for books without cards?

Affirmative, 5; negative, 17.

e. Do you give the receipt to the borrower to be returned
with card for cancellation of date or do you keep file
of such receipts at the library?

Receipt file kept at library, 4.

f. Do you discharge books before stamping off borrowers'
cards?

Affirmative, 5; negative, 10. Discharging and stamping
off done at the same time, 9.

g. If not do you look up book cards overdue before you
stamp off borrower's card?

Affirmative, 8; negative, 3.

h. Do you inspect book while borrower waits? Affirmative,
15; negative, 11.

i. Are books discharged near your return desk or away from
it?

Near or at desk, 28.

j. Do you inspect carefully all books returned?

Affirmative, 18; negative, 8.

k. Is this inspection made when books are discharged or
when shelved?

When discharged, 8; before shelved, 8; at both times, 3.

The most interesting thing brought out by this investigation is the fact that it has taken your committee two years to ascertain and tabulate the simple facts regarding methods of procedure, in a very limited number of institutions, in the performance of only two of the many operations that go to make up their current work. From this it may be imagined how long and difficult a task it would be to carry out a really comprehensive survey of all the work of all kinds of libraries as currently performed. And yet such a survey would appear to be a necessary preliminary to a study of the subject whose aims should be definite suggestions toward the improvement of this work in the direction of greater efficiency. It would seem, at present, a task beyond this committee's powers, although we may be prepared to take general advisory charge of such a work if others can be induced to undertake the details. Possibly some of the library schools may regard this as profitable employment for their students.

In the next place we are struck with the complete negative that our results place upon the general impression that the various details of modern library work are becoming--possibly even have already become--thoroughly standardized. No one thinks, of course, that everyone does everything alike; but we are apt to believe that there are now a few generally approved ways of doing each thing, and that each library selects from these the one that suits its own conditions and limitations. On the contrary, we seem to be in an era of free experiment. Nothing in the two sets of operations that we have studied--not even the existence and value of the operations themselves--would appear to be regarded as sacred. Everyone has his own methods and is apparently satisfied, either with them, or with his own ways of departing from them and groping after something better.

We cannot regard this as altogether desirable. Doubtless no one most efficient way of doing any of these things can be settled upon, so long as conditions differ, but we cannot believe that differences so fundamental and complexities so varied as those revealed in this report are due merely to differing conditions, and that each is the best in the place where it is practised. We must conclude, therefore, that many of our libraries are doing these particular things, and by inference others also, in wasteful, inefficient ways.

Having made a survey of the facts, the next step would be to inquire concerning all variations from a method selected as the simplest in each case--possibly accessioning as practised at Pratt Institute Free Library or the Public Library of the District of Columbia and the charging system at Pittsburgh or at East Orange, New Jersey. The cost of these variations in time and money and the skill necessary in carrying them out, should be ascertained and the practical value of each, if it has any, should be found. It may then be possible to select, for a library of a given type, a standard method of procedure, which will be, all things considered, the most efficient for it.

In regard to cost, the report of the sectional committee on the cost of cataloging, to be made at this conference, will doubtless throw some interesting light on the problem.

Questionnaires

The use of the questionnaire by this committee may require some justification in the light of the growing feeling among librarians that the multiplicity of such demands upon their time is becoming a nuisance; and possibly some general recommendations on the use of library questionnaires may be in order.

We feel that the value of the questionnaire, and the way in which it should be received, regarded and disposed of, depend primarily on the purpose for which it is intended and also largely on the skill and tact of the questioner. We distinguish three main classes of library questionnaires: (1) Those intended to gather data for the information of librarians in general; (2) those intended for the use of single libraries; (3) those intended for the information of individuals. Those of the first class, it seems to us, it is the duty of all librarians to answer, as far as possible. They include questions sent out by A. L. A. or state association committees and those put by individual libraries or librarians with a promise to publish the results or to put them into shape that will make them available to the public, provided, of course, the information sought appears likely to be of value when tabulated.

Questionnaires of the second class will generally be answered, not so much as a matter of public duty as of personal courtesy. They include requests from one librarian to another about details of administration for guidance in making improvements or alterations in method. A librarian feels usually that it is good policy, if nothing more, to comply with such requests so far as his rules permit, for he may at any time desire to make a similar request on his own part. It is suggested, however, that whenever possible such data as these should be asked in a way, and from a sufficient number of libraries, to warrant throwing the results into a form that will make them generally available.

The third category includes most of the questionnaires that excite the ire of librarians and cause a feeling that questions of all kinds are nuisances demanding abatement. They come from students writing theses, from assistants preparing papers for local clubs, from individuals obsessed with curiosity, from reporters, from persons of various degrees of irresponsibility. There is no reason why any attention at all should be paid to these and we recommend librarians to return to them merely a stereotyped form of polite acknowledgement and refusal.

It is hoped that the Headquarters of the Association may become more and more the clearing house for systematized information of this kind, saving thereby much wasteful duplication of material and effort. We recommend that the originators of legitimate questionnaires send to Headquarters before making up their list of questions, to see how many can be answered in this way.

Much of the feeling against questionnaires is due to lack of good judgment on the part of the framers. It is obviously unfair to ask another librarian to answer questions that could be answered from the resources of the questioning library, even if the latter would require a little more time and trouble. A large proportion of the items in questionnaires of all three grades specified above are of this character. If it is desired that all the answers shall appear in the same form on one sheet, answers obtainable in the questioning library may be written in before sending out the list, and the attention of the correspondent may be called to this fact. In any case a statement should accompany the questionnaire that the information asked cannot be obtained by any other means at the asker's disposal.

In some cases questions are asked that require the collection of unusual data regarding the current work of the library. The answers to such questions can evidently not be given, even if the library is willing and anxious to undertake at once the additional work of collection, until the expiration of the period for which the figures are asked--generally one year. The usual method seems to be to send out such questions to a large number of libraries in the hope that a few will be able to answer them at once. A better way would be to send out to a large number of libraries a statement of the desired data, asking those willing to undertake their collection to notify the asker. At the expiration of the period of collection the sender of the questions would then have accurate data and he would not expect them before the end of this period--whether one year or less.

It would seem to be unnecessary to remind those who receive and answer questionnaires that returned blanks should bear the name of the library to which they refer, were it not for the fact that this is so often omitted. In one recent case the name was given simply as "Carnegie library," with no address.

Briefly set forth, the recommendations of this committee, regarding the use of library questionnaires, are, then, as follows:

(1) That questionnaires should always be for the information of librarians in general, or for improving the service of one library in particular, preferably the former.

(2) That no questions should be included that can be answered in the questioning library or at A. L. A. Headquarters.

(3) That questions requiring the collection of current data over a specified period of time be asked proportionately in advance of the report desired, in cases where the data are not such as are usually recorded.

(4) That those who answer questionnaires be careful to include the name and address of their library.

Labor Saving Devices

It is a commonplace of library history that librarianship has contributed the card catalog idea to commercial life. The library in turn is indebted to commercial life for many labor-saving devices. Very likely a few of the largest libraries utilize all available labor-saving devices to the utmost. Your committee is, however, of the opinion that the medium size and smaller libraries might reduce the cost of administration through the more general use of mechanical appliances. We recommend that at a coming meeting of the Association there be held an exhibition of all available competing labor-saving devices adapted to library use. The assembled demonstration of such devices should prove most instructive to the members of the association and would itself be a time-saving device. Such an exhibition could probably not be advantageously assembled except in a large city. Your committee therefore recommends that either it or a special committee be authorized to arrange for such an exhibition and demonstration.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

Committee on Administration.

COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY TRAINING

At the beginning of the year the committee began the consideration of an outline, prepared by the chairman, of possible points considered in the proposed examination of library schools. This outline was submitted to the members of the committee individually and valuable suggestions obtained and was afterwards discussed by such members of the committee as were present at the January meetings in Chicago.

This outline which is appended to the present report is not to be considered as necessarily final, for the committee invites criticisms and suggestions from other members of the profession. What the committee desires if library schools are to be examined, is that the schools should be examined from the point of view of the needs of the profession, not simply from the point of view of the interests of the library schools. The real vital questions lying at the foundation of the examination of library schools are these: Does this method of obtaining recruits for the profession give the best results which can be secured by such a method? Do the library school trained workers prove in actual experience that their training has been of the right sort? These questions cannot be answered from an examination of the records of any one or even any half dozen library school graduates, but only from the examination of many such records.

As was before said, criticisms on the outline are invited from members of the profession and from any of the library schools, as the desire of the committee is to make an absolutely thorough, and impartial study of the whole library school problem.

At the January meeting in Chicago the members of the committee were rejoiced to learn that the executive board had re-appropriated the appropriation for 1912 with a like amount for the work of 1913.

With these financial limitations in mind the committee considered the question of an examiner, and one having been agreed upon, made the proposition with great confidence, only after considerable delay to have it declined. Further search through the field discovered another person who seemed equally suitable and she was approached only to decline.

The real difficulty evidently lies in the fact that we are asking the examiner to undertake a large piece of professional work and practically offering only expenses and the cost of a substitute for the regular work during such times as it is necessary to leave it. Naturally enough, it is not easy to find anyone willing to take this additional burden.

The committee now have in consideration other names and hope, if reappointed, to be able to announce an examiner before the beginning of the next library school year to such schools as indicate their readiness to receive an examination.

For the Committee.

AZARIAH S. ROOT, Chairman.

Appendix

Scheme of Efficiency Tests for a Library School

(Note.--In its general outline this scheme is indebted to the admirable Test of College Efficiency prepared by Dean Charles N. Cole of Oberlin College.)

I. THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION

A. Government and control of the school:

1. Trustees:

(a) How chosen. Fitness to direct library training;

(b) Tenure of office;

(c) Meetings, how often;

(d) Ad interim power vested where;

(e) Determination of policy: does it lie with trustees,
president, director or faculty.

B. Equipment of the school:

1. Connection with other educational work:

(a) With college or university;

(b) With other institutions;

2. Connection with a library:

(a) Of what type;

(b) What constituency and to what extent used;

(c) How far equipped with modern library methods;

(d) Actual practice work in library by students;

3. Bibliographical apparatus:

(a) General reference books;

(b) Trade Bibliographies;

(c) Special Bibliographies;

(d) Library economy;

(e) Samples of library blanks and supplies;

4. Housing:

(a) Recitation rooms;

(b) Study or work rooms;

(c) Rest and social rooms;

(d) Library facilities.

C. Administration of the school:

1. Officers:

(a) How many;

(b) How obtained;

(c) Qualifications;

(d) Tenure of office;

(e) Estimate of work;

(f) Compensation;

(g) Vacation;

2. Faculty:

(a) Do new teachers have a voice in determination of
educational questions;

(b) Faculty meetings, how often;

(c) Committees, how many; what duties.

D. Instruction in the school:

1. Faculty:

(a) How obtained;

(b) Qualifications;

(c) Tenure of office;

(d) Estimate and adjustment of work;

(e) Requirements of teachers;

(f) Number of hours of instruction given by each
teacher in a school year;

(g) Compensation;

(h) Vacation;

(i) What supervision of teachers' work;

2. Students:

(a) How admitted, examination, certificates, etc.;

(b) How far does actual practice differ from catalog
statements;

(c) Requirements for admission;

(d) Requirements for admission of students to advanced
standing (in two year courses);

3. Supervision of student work:

(a) Regulation of amount of work;

(b) Guidance in choice of studies;

(c) Requirements for passing grade;

(d) What is done about conditions and failures;

(e) What methods for enforcing the regularity of work;

(f) What provision for the individual help of weak
students;

(g) Graduation;

(h) Records, how kept, etc.;

4. Curriculum:

(a) Arrangement and order of studies;

(b) Length of time devoted to each subject;

(c) System of required studies;

(d) System of electives;

(e) What training for special fields of library work,
e. g., children's librarians, legislative reference
librarians, etc.

5. Class Room Work:

(a) Size of classes;

(b) What part of the course is class room work;

(c) Method of conducting class room work;

6. Practice Work:

(a) What part of course is practice work;

(b) How revised and supervised;

(c) What is the purpose in practice work;

(d) Is this purpose realized;

7. Informal Instruction:

(a) Lectures, etc.;

(b) Opportunities to see work of libraries;

(c) Actual experience in libraries other than that
connected with the school.

E. Student Life and Work:

1. Number of students:

2. Work of students:

(a) What seem to be the scholastic ideals of the
students;

(b) To what extent do the students seem to have
professional enthusiasm;

(c) What studies do they elect when there is an option;

(d) Outside activities of students;

(e) Social life and cultural development of students;

(f) Environment particularly with reference to breadth
of culture;

(g) Room and board; are students housed under sanitary
and elevating conditions;

(h) Health;

(i) Social conditions and standing of students;

(j) Previous educational advantages;

(k) Literary, musical and artistic opportunities during
library school course;

(l) Opportunities to form personal relationships with
members of the faculty.

II. THE TESTING OF SCHOOL WORK IN PRACTICAL ACTIVITY

1. What has been the professional success of the graduates:

(a) To what extent have they taken prominent places in the
library world;

(b) Omitting as far as possible personal qualities, is
there any general characteristic stamping the students
of the school;

(c) Do the interests of the graduates seem to be broadly
professional, or narrowly confined to a particular type
of work which they have entered;

2. What has been the general intellectual standing of the
graduates:

(a) Have they shown themselves equal to cope with their
opportunities;

(b) Have they shown a range of interest which has enabled
them to connect their work with that of philanthropic,
charitable, sociological;

(c) Have they taken influential places in the towns in
which they work.

COMMITTEE ON WORK WITH THE BLIND

The libraries which circulate embossed books have continued their services throughout the year with ever increasing results, the largest circulation having been attained by the New York public library, which circulated 21,938 books and pamphlets. The Free library of Philadelphia sent out 17,706 volumes; the Carnegie library of Pittsburgh, 3,218; the Perkins Institution, 6,000; Wilmington, Delaware, 567.

=Library of Congress.= The most important event in the history of the Reading Room for the Blind during the year was the appointment of Mrs. Gertrude T. Rider as Assistant in charge.

=Perkins Institution.= The school is now in its new home where the library is housed in commodious quarters, and is in charge of a trained librarian from Albany, Miss Laura M. Sawyer, and a trained assistant from Simmons, Miss Louise P. Hunt, who devote their time to the care of the valuable special collection in ink print about the blind as well as to the circulation of embossed books.

=New York State Library.= Eight new titles in New York point were embossed for the New York state library in 1912 and an additional list of well chosen titles is now in press for 1913.

=Saginaw, W. S., Michigan.= The Free lending library for the blind has asked the legislature for $2,000 to replenish the collection with new books. Of 202 borrowers the librarian reports that 117 persons have drawn no reading matter during the latter half of the year.

=California State Library.= Mr. Charles S. Greene, of the committee, sends the following report of the work of the State library and the San Francisco reading room:

The California state library for the blind wishes to report progress during the last year. Although we have had very little money to buy books, accessions have increased from 2,309, April 1, 1912, to 2,659 April 1, 1913, mainly through gifts and the regular receipt of magazines. Borrowers have increased from 475 to 550. The most satisfactory advance, however, has been in the increased use the blind borrowers are making of the library in borrowing all kinds of writing appliances and games to try before buying and in asking information on all subjects of interest to them. Such questions as what occupations are followed by the blind, and where different articles for their use can be purchased, are constantly being asked. With an increase in the State library fund, which the present legislature will probably grant, it is hoped to buy all the new publications as fast as possible, as well as to complete our collection of appliances for the blind.

The San Francisco reading room and library for the blind has about 400 volumes. It conducts an emporium for the sale of articles made by the blind and teaches Braille reading and writing, Braille stenography, weaving, basketry and broom making.

=Pennsylvania.= All borrowers residing in the western part of the state are now supplied with books from the Carnegie library of Pittsburgh; those residing in the eastern part of the state have the use of books deposited with the Free library of Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania home teaching society.

=Cincinnati, Ohio.= Miss Smith, of the committee, sends the following report: "There seems to be nothing new here in the library work for the blind. The Clovernook Home, which is to be opened May 30, has absorbed the attention largely of Miss Trader and her sister and this spring the flood interfered somewhat with the meetings at the library."

=Minnesota.= Miss Carey, of the committee, writes as follows of the work in Minnesota: "As far as I know the entire work of providing books for the blind in this state is done through the School for the Blind at Faribault. The library there is in excellent condition, being on a wholly modern basis as to classification and details of management. It is open throughout the year and circulates to outside readers on an average 25 books a month. There are 80 regular readers outside the institution and about 90 in residence this year. As the school is small this is a large number. The librarian in charge is one of the teachers and for years in this school it has been considered something of an honor to hold this position, although it is by no means a sinecure.... The library work is always stimulated by the annual summer school for adult blind which brings in new readers each year. At the close of the session the pupils, many of them, become patrons of the library 'for good.'"

=New Publications.= Since the first embossed book was issued in Philadelphia in 1833, the publishing of literature in raised print has been increased until there are now 16 presses in active use in this country. The record of new publications for 1912 is as follows:

American Braille, 56 titles in English; 2 titles in German.

New York point, 14 titles, of which 8 were embossed by the New York state library.

In European Braille new titles have been issued in England and Scotland; in Moon type 11 titles have been added and 10 other titles are in press.

=The Catholic Review=, monthly, published by the Xavier free publication society for the blind, 824 Oakdale Avenue, Chicago, Ill., in American Braille.

=The Illuminator=, a quarterly Braille magazine, published by the Holmes-Schenley literary society of the Western Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind, Pittsburgh, Pa.

=Society for the Promotion of Church Work Among the Blind.= Volumes 3 and 4 of the music of the Hutchins' Hymnal have been finished and copies distributed to a number of the leading circulating libraries where the volumes will be available to those who may not wish to purchase them.

=Bible Training School=, South Lancaster, Mass. "Some friends of the blind, in looking over the catalogs of books in different libraries for the blind, were impressed with the small amount of Christian literature that had been placed in the embossed type, especially in New York point and American Braille, so the plan was conceived of creating a fund and printing one book after another as the funds would accumulate, placing them in the circulating libraries throughout the United States." To obtain the volumes in New York point and American Braille, free of charge, address Mrs. S. N. Haskell, South Lancaster, Mass.

=Gould Free Library for the Blind=, 555 East 6th Street, South Boston, Mass. "The library is working under the auspices of the International Bible Students' Association headquarters, Brooklyn, N. Y., which supplies financial aid in the main, while donations have been accepted from outsiders. Our books are all Bible studies, very helpful and appreciated by the blind. We circulated 3,474 books and pamphlets last year in the three point systems and a few books in Line type and Moon type."

=Free Theosophical Circulating Library for the Blind=, 32 Waverly Street, Everett, Mass., has issued three titles in American Braille; also a monthly paper of 7 or 8 pages.

=New postal law.= Under an act of Congress of August 24, 1912, "magazines, periodicals and other regularly issued publications in raised letters for the blind, which contain no advertisements and for which no subscription fee is charged, shall be transmitted in the U. S. mails free of postage and under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe."

=The Twelfth Convention of Workers for the Blind= will be held in Jacksonville, Illinois, June 24-27, 1913, and among those who will attend the conference are several representatives from public libraries interested in the circulation of embossed literature. Miss L. A. Goldthwaite, of the New York public library, has been asked to conduct a round table. In the general discussion of the subject of catalogs for the blind it is hoped to obtain the best opinion of those in attendance upon the most convenient form for such catalogs or finding lists for use by those who read by touch. The Library of Congress, the New York public library, the Brooklyn public library, the New York state library, the Free library of Philadelphia, as well as institutions for the blind, will be represented by the assistants in charge of the circulation of embossed books.

At this conference there will be given the report of the "Uniform Type Committee" appointed at the Overbrook conference in 1911. The two agents of that committee, who made an extended tour of this country from May, 1912, until February, 1913, visited many schools and other institutions for the blind and tested over 900 readers in one or more of the three systems--New York point, American Braille and British Braille. Scientific tests to determine the best size of type, spacing, etc., have been made to establish a standard or uniform system of writing and printing. The recommendations of the committee have been reserved until the meeting of the American Association of Workers for the Blind at Jacksonville; they are awaited with interest by all.

EMMA R. N. DELFINO,
Chairman.

The PRESIDENT: As you will see from your printed programs we are privileged this morning to receive an accredited delegate from the Library Association of the United Kingdom, and it is our especial pleasure to greet as this accredited delegate an old friend of American librarians. He was with us at the Conference of 1904, and we have since that time watched with a great deal of interest the strong, splendid work which is manifest in the library over which he presides. I have the honor of introducing to you this morning the Honorary Secretary of the Library Association of the United Kingdom and the accredited delegate from that organization, Mr. L. STANLEY JAST, chief librarian of the Croydon Public Libraries.

Mr. BOWKER: And, Mr. President, I move that we receive our welcome guest from the L. A. U. K. by a rising vote of welcome.

Mr. Jast spoke as follows:

PRESENT CONDITIONS AND TENDENCIES OF LIBRARY WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I should like first of all to express the peculiar personal pleasure I feel at being privileged for the second time to attend a conference of the American Library Association. As you have said, sir, it was my pleasure in 1904 to attend a meeting of your body, then as now the accredited delegate of my Association, but that meeting of 1904 was, as you know, an international meeting, and an international meeting anywhere is apt to take on general rather than special characteristics, and I have long wished to be present at an ordinary meeting of the American Library Association, so that I might see for myself how you conduct your work and hear you discussing your own problems in your own way. So that I trust, Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen, that you will kindly forget that

"A chiel's amang ye takin' notes."

Iam authorized by the Council of the Library Association to extend to you, sir, and the members present their very heartiest greetings and to express on their behalf their high appreciation not only of the special invitation which you sent to them to send a delegate but for the extremely generous offer of hospitality which was attached thereto. My Council felt that to such an invitation only one response is possible and that was to accept.

We were in hope that Mr. Henry R. Tedder, who is the chairman of the Council of the Library Association and its honorary treasurer and an ex-president,--and otherwise the secretary of the Athenaeum Club,--would have come as our delegate, because Mr. Tedder's importance is intrinsic and not like mine purely adventitious and depending wholly upon the office which I at the moment have the privilege to hold; but it was impossible for Mr. Tedder to come on this occasion and, ladies and gentlemen, I am the best that we can do for you at this time.

But I am happy to say that it is the general feeling of the Council that in future we should not let many meetings of the A. L. A.--at all events in the eastern states--go by without sending one or more members of our Association to be present at them. I do not think that there is anything from which our Association is likely to get a more valuable return than by the visits of some of its more prominent members to America in order that they may see for themselves and not merely read about what you are doing, and how you are doing it and get some knowledge of the conditions under which you are working, of your achievements and of your difficulties, and so bring to library work in Great Britain that added power which must inevitably come from a wider knowledge. So that I trust that the imperfections of the present delegate will be overlooked, in the hope not only of more but of better to come.

I am also requested by my Council to extend a very hearty invitation to the members of the American Library Association to attend the annual meeting of the Library Association to be held in 1914. That meeting will almost certainly be held at Oxford, by invitation of the University and of the city. I need not of course point out the extreme suitability of the city of Oxford for a meeting of librarians, nor the attractions which Oxford must possess for everyone who likes an atmosphere of ancient learning and who revels in the architectural glories of a bygone day. So we hope that as many of you as possible will come over there for that meeting in order that we may make of it a sort of Americo-Anglican conference. Observe the order, please, in which I mention those words. I draw special attention to that because I believe I have somewhat of a reputation for an absence of tact on these occasions--at any rate among our own members.

When I informed Mr. Utley that I was coming he was good enough to write me a letter, which I received just before I sailed, and he asked--not knowing me very well of course, or he might not have been so liberal in his invitation--that I should talk to you on any subject I liked. I thought that it would be best perhaps if I should say something about the present conditions of library work in Great Britain. Of course it is impossible, in an address lasting only a few minutes, to cover anything like the whole field, and if I did attempt it I should only bore you. But you may be interested in one or two of the outstanding features of our recent work, because they throw light upon conditions which are in many respects very different from yours. First of all, there are two features in what I may perhaps call the domestic situation, which to us are of considerable significance. The most important step which the Library Association as an association has ever taken has been the recent reorganization of its membership along the lines of the professional qualifications of the members. In our old grouping we took no account whatever of whether a member of the Association was a professional librarian or merely a member of a library committee or just a person interested in library work. The honorary fellows of the Association and the fellows were any persons, whether librarians or not, whose names would add dignity and importance to the Association, or who had distinguished themselves by some special service rendered to the Association or the movement as a whole. Then in addition Mr. Tedder himself had a small group of what he called _very_ honorary fellows who were the honorary fellows who insisted on paying their annual dues. That was an entirely private group of Mr. Tedder's. Now we have changed all that. Fellows and members of the Association are now professional librarians only, and non-professional librarians are known as associate members. The privileges of membership including the power to vote and to serve on the Council are shared equally by all members of the Association. The fellows consist in the main of librarians only, but there is a small sprinkling of deputy and sub-librarians. The by-law referring to fellows who do not hold chief positions states that "they must be librarians of approved status," but we interpret that phrase "approved status" in the widest possible way. The members consist of assistant librarians--all those assistant librarians who are not in the small group of fellows; they must be twenty-five years of age and have had six years' experience. That is so at the moment. But after the 31st day of December, 1914, only librarians who possess the diploma of the Association will be entitled to fellowship, and in order to receive the diploma you must have taken in addition to possessing practical experience in an approved library, the six examinations held by the Association, have obtained the six certificates, have gone through if necessary a ~vive voce~ examination and have submitted a thesis. Then professional librarians who possess four out of the six certificates will be entitled to membership. A good deal of criticism has been leveled at the scheme owing to the fact that the librarian of some pettifogging little library, with perhaps a total rate income of a couple of hundred a year or even less, because he is a chief in a small way, is entitled to fellowship, while an assistant in a big library system, who may have infinitely more responsibility, is only entitled to membership. But we had to begin somewhere and we had to draw the line somewhere and we drew the line at the sub-librarian, because when we got below the sub-librarian we should not know where on earth we were, because there is no accepted nomenclature of library positions in our country. I do not know whether there is in yours. "Sub-librarian" does not always mean the same thing. The term "chief assistant" is used in a very different way in different libraries. Moreover, the Privy Council would not have approved these by-laws unless we had opened the door as widely as possible to the holders of all existing chief positions.

There is one weak point so far which we have discovered in our scheme. We have no provision for non-professional members corresponding to professional fellowship among the professional members, but we have a new by-law now before the Privy Council creating a group of associate fellows and the associate fellowship will be conferred upon chairmen of library committees and upon non-professional members of the Association who have served the Association in some definite capacity as members of the Council or in some other way.

That, I think, then is the most important domestic thing that we have ever done because we have now made the beginnings at all events of a definite organization of the profession.

The other important thing will not have the same interest for you, but I mention it because it throws light upon our own conditions. We have settled, by a new by-law, the relations of branch associations to the parent body. Until recently we had a by-law which merely provided that branches in any particular district may be formed but it did not state what the powers of the branches were, and owing to that absence of definition we have suffered for a great many years past from a considerable amount of trouble. One or two of the branches grew considerably in recent years, in numbers and in importance; and they began to resent the fact, the inevitable fact of course, that for the most part the actual work of running the Association fell upon the members of the Council who were resident in London or near it. It may seem absurd to you to speak of the distance of London from the great provincial centers in Great Britain, but it is not absurd, because every country measures distance on its own scale, and to all intents and purposes Manchester is just as far from London as Chicago is from New York--because we =think= it is. As Hamlet says, you will remember--anticipating Mrs. Eddy by several centuries--

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

And as an illustration of the result of this friction I may mention that in London, at the library school--which is hardly a library school because it has not the organization that your schools have, so I ought not to use that term really, but a department of library lectures at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which is a department of the University of London; at these lectures all persons are admissible whether they are librarians or not, but at similar lectures in the provinces everybody was excluded who was not already engaged in library work. So that you had the absurd situation that while the parent body was running one policy at headquarters you had branch associations running an entirely different policy in their own centers. The question of the "open door," as it was termed, was a very hotly debated one at one time in our Association. Well, the general effect of the stress between the branches and the Council was of course bad, each branch being a more or less permanent storm center. While no absolute harm was done perhaps, and while the fireworks let off at the annual meetings were of a more or less harmless character, at the same time we had a general condition of irritation which affected injuriously the work of the Association as a whole. Now we have done away with that, very largely at all events, at least, we hope, by a new by-law, the main points of which are these: First of all, membership of a branch association includes membership of the parent body; the parent body receiving the subscription to the branch association returns to the branch association a rebate of so much a head for the expenses of the branch and, most important of all, the constitution and by-laws of a branch must be approved by the headquarters council and must in no case conflict with the by-laws and constitution of the parent body.

The Council meets monthly, I may say, and one of the quarterly meetings is held on the occasion of the annual meeting. So that means that the expenses of the provincial members are paid to three of the quarterly meetings held during the year; and all the important business--especially contentious business--is relegated to those quarterly meetings.

Leaving the domestic question and coming to the library situation as a whole in Great Britain, I think that the phrase "marking time" fairly describes it. The public libraries in the United Kingdom have accomplished, I think, great things with extremely limited means. But though the first library act was passed in 1850, though the libraries have since then justified themselves many times over, though the demands made upon the libraries have gone on increasing time after time, yet the libraries are still strangled by the statutory limitation of one-penny-in-the-pound on the tax leviable for library purposes which was imposed not by the Ewart Act of 1850, which limited the rate to a halfpenny, but by the amending act of 1855. It is quite true that about forty of the large towns of the country have promoted special parliamentary bills giving them power to levy a rate of two-pence or even more in the pound, but in very few cases is two-pence actually levied, and of course it is the smaller towns, which can not face the expense of promoting special legislation, which really need greater rating powers even more than the larger boroughs.