Chapter XXII: Section 3: of the By-laws to include representation of state, (10)

=B. Five to ten books as collateral reference.= Selected to cover
subject in study outline and amplify the text. Publisher and
price given for all books included, for use in purchase. A more
extended list of books can easily be prepared by any library where
additional material is available.

=Lessons should be outlined by:=

=C. Question method.= Five to ten definite questions on each
lesson.

=D. Or, Topical method.= Topics assigned under each lesson should
be those which present special phases of the general subject.
The two methods may sometimes be combined. Written papers, if
included under either Question or Topical form of study outline,
should be assigned only for subjects which require some degree of
original thought; all information to be derived from text books
and encyclopedias should be covered by the regular lesson for oral
discussion. Note. Number of meetings of study clubs vary. Probably
not less than sixteen or more than twenty-six lessons. Many
average two meetings a month. October to May.

=Second.= That this committee be authorized to draw upon the
League treasury for a definite sum for the employment of a capable
compiler to prepare outlines based on this plan.

=Third.= That if possible the coöperation of some publisher be
secured to print the outlines thus prepared, or others passed
upon by the committee, and furnish them at reasonable cost to the
various commissions operating traveling libraries and to club and
individuals desiring them.

=Fourth.= That the study outline committee be constituted a
sub-committee of the publications committee and be empowered to
select subjects, revise and pass upon all outlines submitted,
before printed.

MARGARET BROWN, Chairman.

=Explanatory Notes on the Plan of Preparation of Study Outlines=

=A.= The use of a few designated books (or a single book) as a basis for common study of the same subject, or closely related topics, provides the means by which the unity and co-ordination is secured, which is essential for effective and satisfactory results.

Each member may, if she so desires, provide herself at nominal cost with the source references necessary to cover the essential point contained in the outline.

=B.= The books for collateral reading should be carefully evaluated and selection based upon their real value in supplementing text, from the standpoint of reliability, readableness and stimulative quality, also that the price shall not be prohibitive of purchase by clubs, local public libraries and duplication in traveling libraries of large number of copies for use in supplying many different clubs.

Any local or traveling library may easily provide additional books for collateral reading whenever the collection permits. It is not, however, deemed advisable to have such extended lists incorporated in the outlines; as a demand would then be created which could not be supplied by the small library, and therefore would become a handicap and embarrassment.

=C.= In outlining lessons by the question method, the questions should be so formulated as to stimulate discussion; not simply to be answered in the affirmative or negative.

The question method permits a free expression of individual opinions based on personal reading. Such "discussion awakens the keenest interest through the activity of different minds upon the same fact or idea," as each member is expected to prepare herself to answer all questions.

The question method is endorsed by many educational experts as a desirable method for the conduct of study classes, and has been found to be practical and satisfactory by many study clubs.

=D.= In outlining lessons by the Topical method, care should be taken to include no more topics than can be thoroughly discussed, and such phases of the subject assigned as topics as will amplify the general subject which has been studied in common by all members from the text upon which the outline is based.

The report was accepted. On the motion of Mr. Bliss it was voted that the chairman of the committee be authorized to draw upon the treasurer of the League for any amount not to exceed $100.00 to defray the expenses of preparing some experimental outlines carrying out the plans suggested in the report. It was moved by Mr. Dudgeon that the chairman be instructed to enter into negotiations with some publisher to secure coöperation in printing study outlines approved by the committee, to be sold to study clubs and library commissions at reasonable cost. Carried. On the motion of Mr. Bliss, it was voted to continue the study outline committee, with Miss Brown as chairman, and to authorize the committee to select subjects, revise and pass upon all outlines before printed.

Adjourned.

SECOND SESSION

(Saturday, June 29, 8:30 p. m.)

As there were several important committee reports still to be received it was voted to hold a meeting on Monday afternoon at 4:30 to complete the transaction of business. Mr. Milam then turned the meeting over to Miss Miriam E. Carey, of Minnesota, and the evening was devoted to the consideration of libraries in institutions.

Miss E. KATHLEEN JONES, librarian of the McLean Hospital, Waverley, Mass., read a paper on

LIBRARY WORK AMONG THE INSANE

I have been asked to talk about two things to-night,--our library at McLean Hospital in Waverley, Massachusetts, and my idea for organization among the state hospitals of the different states. By dint of considerable money, much thought and labor and an unlimited amount of interest and coöperation with the librarian on the part of superintendent and trustees, we have been able to build up at the McLean Hospital something which approaches pretty near our ideal of what a library in a hospital for the insane should be. But in regard to the second subject I feel a little diffident, since there are several among you who have actually organized the institution libraries of your different states and combined them under one head, while I have only dreamed about it. Still, the dream and the vision must always be forerunners of accomplishment, and you also must have dreamed before you were able to build.

At McLean Hospital we have two libraries,--one for the use of the patients, which was started in 1835 with 160 volumes and now numbers over 7,000, and a medical library organized in 1887 and containing over 5,000 volumes. The two are kept entirely distinct with separate accession-book, catalog, classification and finances. The medical library comprises a fairly good department in general medicine and a very fine one in chemistry; but of course, its principal features are books and periodicals in psychology and psychiatry. We take 85 medical and chemical journals, most of them German, and the care of these periodicals alone is no slight task for the librarian. I will just say incidentally that, unable to find any classification for medical books which seemed at all adequate to our needs we have evolved one for ourselves, using the decimal idea in numbering. It is a thoroughly satisfactory scheme for us and we hope some time to print it for the benefit of the medical libraries in other hospitals for the insane.

Although our general library for the patients has been in existence for seventy-five years and more, for the first six decades it was conducted in a rather desultory manner, as indeed, most libraries were at that time. It was not till 1895 that any attempt at classification and cataloging was made, and not until 1904 was a trained librarian installed and the whole department put on a business basis. The expenditure of the annual appropriation was at that time put into the librarian's hands with directions to build up the library at her own discretion, subject, of course, to the approval of the superintendent and trustees. That the business basis is the only successful one, these figures show:--in 1904, after seventy years, the library numbered only 4,000 volumes, with few new books but a large assortment of old sermons and evangelical biography, and its circulation was about 5,000. During the eight years of the new regime, more than 3,000 volumes have been added and the circulation has increased to over 8,500.

During its seventy-five years of service our library has exemplified at least four important things:--first, as has been shown, that one cannot get such good results from the old desultory method of having a few books on the wards looked after by nurses, or even in a central library run by a stenographer in her spare moments, as from an organized, central library with a trained librarian at its head. Second, that although the business basis is the only successful one, the administration of it should be as simple and free from "red tape" as possible. The nearer a hospital librarian can keep her library to the idea of the private library and the more friendly and personal relations she can establish with the patients the more good she can accomplish. The third point I would make is that unless they are very ill and destructive, books are treated as carefully by the insane as by the users of the public libraries. Last year, out of 8,686 volumes taken out by patients and nurses, only 9 were lost or destroyed, and of these only two were charged to patients. It is the proud boast of one of our head nurses who has under him the next to the most violent and destructive ward on the men's side, that he has had out for his patients over 450 volumes in the last two years, and has not lost or had mutilated one single book!

The fourth and most important lesson we have learned is that the value of a well-selected library can hardly be over-estimated as a therapeutic agent. I do not mean by this that a cure can be effected simply by reading the right books; that of course is absurd. But it is a fact recognized by all psychiatrists and at the basis of the treatment of the insane in all hospitals today, that whatever takes a patient's mind off himself and his own troubles and directs his thoughts into other and more wholesome channels, contributes to his recovery. And when amusement pall, handicrafts tire and golf and tennis are too strenuous, books and pictures will almost always help. It is for this reason that we have to be so careful of the kind of reading, especially of fiction, which we put into the hands of our patients. They must be wholesome stories; anything dealing with suicide or insanity is strictly tabu; also stories which are morbid or would be apt to arouse a morbid train of thought. With these exceptions the insane want and should have the same books which you and I read. Moreover, and I wish I could say this loudly and emphatically enough to be heard over the whole country, the insane are not imbeciles and they are not children, and they resent it when they are treated as such just as much as you or I would. If the old ladies like to reread the stories they loved when they were young, so do old ladies everywhere, but they do not want kindergarten stories. And they are as interested in what is going on in the world and in keeping up with the times as anyone.

About once a week I go to Boston, look over the new books, select the ones I like the looks of and have them sent out "on approval." Every book of fiction is read by me, or if it is distinctly a man's book, by someone of the staff in whose literary judgment I can rely. The books which are kept are then classified and cataloged and either sent directly to some patient or ward where I know they will be appreciated, or else placed on the "new book shelves." Neither staff nor nurses are allowed to have the new books until the patients have read them. The patients come over four evenings a week to the library, the men Mondays and Fridays and the women Wednesdays and Saturdays. Our library consists of two large and very beautiful rooms with open shelves and open fires. Some of the patients roam about and browse among the books, others sit at the tables and look at pictures and magazines, while still others join the ladies of the house who generally sit in the front library in the evening with their fancy-work and the fire. Sometimes we play cards with them.

Besides these four evenings, certain patients are sometimes allowed to come over in the daytime, and the nurses come in at any time of day to get books for some particular patient or for their ward. These "traveling libraries" on the wards are our most successful means of reaching those patients who are too feeble, or too ill, or who lack the initiative to come to the library and select their own books, but who will often get interested in a book which lies on the sitting-room table of their ward.

I am often asked what kind of books aside from fiction the patients call for. I suppose books with pictures would rank first, for patients who are too ill to read will often look at these by the hour. These picture-books comprise art books, of which we have a very fine collection bought and added to each year with money from a bequest to the hospital; Black's travel books; Country Life in America, etc. Next come the nature and out-of-door books; then literature, especially Longfellow, Whittier and Tennyson. History is seldom called for by the patients,--sociology and economics never; yet our nurses, especially our Canadian nurses who want to know about conditions in the States, frequently ask for these, and we have books on all these subjects; for, though our hospital motto is "Patients first," we find that whatever increases the intelligence of the nurses increases their efficiency, and we are glad to have them avail themselves of every opportunity for reading and study.

Frankly humorous books I have learned never to give to a depressed patient, and Miss Carey tells me she has had the same experience. If a patient is much depressed he seems to resent being cheered up if he knows it, and we all have realized in ourselves that unless we are in the mood for it there is nothing in the world so dreary as an avowedly funny story. Neither is there any call for collections like the "International library of famous literature," and the "Library of American literature," and in this matter too, Miss Carey agrees with me. Short stories also are at a discount here. The patients want novels which shall grip and hold their attention in spite of themselves. We all know that the complete librarian is supposed to have an extra sense of intuition, and I think I unconsciously say to myself in selecting books for the patients, "If I felt the way that patient looks as if he felt, what kind of books would I want?" Sometimes, though, one makes mistakes. For instance,--we have one patient, a dear old lady, somewhat prim, a little austere, a typical New England aristocrat of the old school, with whom one immediately associates "Cranford" and "Oldfield" and Mrs. de la Pasture. But this dear lady wants detective stories, if you please, and the more gruesome and bloodier they are the more she revels in them. In her estimation, "The Marathon mystery" and "The Boule cabinet" and "The Mystery of the yellow room" totally eclipse "Down our street" and "Queed" any day.

But while short stories are seldom called for, the "short story in long dresses" and bound by itself, is very popular with patients who are physically weak and unable to hold large volumes or to read very long at a time. I always keep a collection of these little books in a special bookrack so I can lay my hands on them at any moment. They comprise such titles as "Pigs is pigs," "The good Samaritan," "Philosophy Four," "Stickeen," "The perfect tribute," "Songs from Vagabondia," "The friendly craft," etc. Then I have other racks on tables and window shelves which I keep filled with different books, changing them often. And I find that shifting the books on the shelves every little while brings into prominence some which have heretofore been overlooked. In short, I try to keep something new in the library all the time, even if only a new plant or arrangement of flowers, for the patients in a hospital of this sort are very dependent on outside agencies for diversion and interest, and their attention must be caught and held by some means or other.

So much for the reality: now for the dream.

Because the library in our hospital has been such a success, because it has so thoroughly proved its therapeutic value, I dream of the time when one as efficient shall be in every hospital in the country. The fact that ours is a private hospital means that we are not helped by the state; it also means that most of our patients, but by no means all, are on a paying basis; it most emphatically does not mean that we have the monopoly of the educated class. While it is true that there are many illiterates in the state hospitals, it is also true that there are in them thousands of men and women as well educated, as refined, as great lovers of books as those in our private hospital. For the majority, it is the question of money, not of education, which determines a patient's place in the state or the private institution. If our people value our library so highly, what must be their deprivation when because of lack of funds they have to go to state institutions where there are no books and periodicals or at best only a few old ones, never changed and seldom added to.

The state says it cannot afford to appropriate for each of its hospitals and asylums an annual sum sufficient to build up such a library as ours and maintain so many trained librarians, and the state is justified. But I have dreamed of a coöperation by means of which there shall be in every state one trained librarian who shall organize into a library what books there already are in each institution, advise and train in library methods those in charge, and buy from an annual appropriation such as the state can afford, new books which shall be sent from one hospital to another in the form of traveling libraries, and after they have gone the round be divided up among the individual institutions,--thus slowly building up each library. This organizer should be in the employ either of the State Board of Insanity (or its equivalent) or else of the State Library Commission. It would seem that the former would be more satisfactory and less complicated, as the state institutions already are under their control, but in some states the library commission seems to have have been entirely successful in co-operating with the state board. One thing seems certain, that unless the state board and the hospital superintendents can be interested in the scheme little can be done; while with their interest and coöperation success is insured.

That this dream is practical has been proved in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and a few other states. In New York, most of the state hospitals seem to have fairly good libraries, and the one at Middletown, N. Y., ranks very nearly with McLean in the number of volumes, and seems to be carried on very efficiently. In Trenton, N. J., there is a state hospital which has a memorial library with a good annual appropriation and which adds about one hundred and fifty books a year. I have with me the figures of the hospital libraries in nineteen states, if anyone cares to see them.

In my dream I see equal library advantages to every state hospital in the country, and I hear from them all the words they will say to you who are able to realize these dreams,--words our patients at McLean have said to us over and over again,--"You don't know what this library has meant to me!" This is an opportunity for intimate helpfulness and real, practical usefulness which I hope everyone of you will try to introduce into his state.

In the discussion that followed, Miss Jones said the McLean Hospital library had an appropriation of about $300 a year for books alone for the patients, but thought that a state hospital library could get on nicely with less. Miss Templeton gave an account of state institutional work in Nebraska where the policy has been to get library work in these institutions under the control of the state library commission.

Mr. Dudgeon said that a list of simple industrial books had been prepared with much care for the prisoners in the Wisconsin state prison. Also that the chaplain helped in recommending reading for the prisoners, those who expected to get out being especially anxious to keep up with events and not be Rip Van Winkles when released.

Miss Carey, of Minnesota, said their state commission has made special efforts to know what the libraries of the institutions were doing, how many readers they had, and how many books they circulate. She said this familiarized the institutions with the commission and so the officers were glad to put the burden off on the commission. She thought it was impossible to do anything until the officers of the institutions were on your side; that this must be worked for until secured.

After discussion the session adjourned.

THIRD SESSION

(Monday, July 1, 4:30 p. m.)

The third session of the League opened with a report from Mr. F. F. Hopper, of Tacoma, on the work of the Committee on federal prison libraries. His report was as follows:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LIBRARIES IN FEDERAL PRISONS

The report of this committee made by Mr. Hadley at the Pasadena meeting, outlined correspondence with the Department of Justice in Washington, which Department has supervision of the penitentiaries including their libraries. After repeated efforts by Mr. Hadley, the department seemed to become interested in the libraries in the prisons, and friendly to suggestions for improving them, but the officials considered that proper library facilities were dependent upon the provision by Congress of a system of education for the prisoners. However, the department already had the authority to appropriate money from its own funds for the purchase of books for the prison libraries. In his report, Mr. Hadley recommended that a bill be introduced in the next Congress for an annual appropriation for books and their care in penitentiary libraries.

In 1911 catalogs of the libraries in the penitentiaries at Atlanta and at McNeil Island were prepared by the prison librarians and printed. After these were submitted to the Department of Justice, it seems to have been decided to adopt a definite policy for the annual expenditure of money for the purchase of books for one of these libraries, that at McNeil Island. This decision was probably hastened by the disclosures the catalogues made in regard to the kind of books already in the libraries. It is evident that fiction constitutes almost the whole of the collections. At any rate in January the attorney general wrote the secretary of the American Library Association that the department would spend $100 annually for the purchase of books for the library at McNeil Island, and requested that a list of books be prepared, none of the books to be fiction, but chiefly history, biography and science. Mr. Utley asked the present chairman of your committee to prepare the list since the Tacoma library is the nearest to McNeil Island and the present chairman was somewhat acquainted with the conditions and needs there. A list of 500 titles, with a first choice of books to cost $100.00 was considered, but the list was reduced to 175 titles, since it was deemed best to provide only for purchase for two years. Since the library already contained considerable fiction and the public libraries of both Seattle and Tacoma frequently send the prison selected books from their discards, it was fortunate that the department wished no fiction on the list.

We have learned from the Department of Justice in the last few days that similar purchases were not contemplated for the much larger prisons at Atlanta and Leavenworth. No attempt was made to secure the introduction of a bill in Congress providing for an annual appropriation for books and their care in the penitentiary libraries, since it was already so late in the present session; since the new interest of the department under the present law appeared promising; and since it seemed desirable first to secure the discussion and coöperation of the American Prison Association and other societies interested in prison administration and reform. It was hoped that a member of this committee could present the subject of libraries in the federal prisons at the meeting of the Conference of Charities and Corrections in Cleveland during the present month, but it was not possible to carry out the plan. The American Prison Association has formally invited a member of the committee to discuss the same subject at the annual meeting of the association at Baltimore in November, and it is highly desirable that the invitation be accepted. It should be possible to interest and secure the powerful backing of the American Prison Association in securing the passage of any contemplated legislation looking to the improvement of prison libraries.

The warden of the prison at McNeil Island secures some fifty magazines as gifts by merely begging them from the publishers! At both Atlanta and Leavenworth, the only new magazines the prisoners see are those which they subscribe for themselves or which are sent by their friends.

In the Atlanta prison, a regular school is conducted, and whatever books are purchased from the general funds are school books. A school should be established at McNeil Island. At present there are no facilities for such work there but with the example of the one at Atlanta, it should be possible to urge effectively that the department establish a school at McNeil Island.

In the coming year the commendable start which the Department of Justice has made in purchasing books for the prison at McNeil Island, should open the way for successful efforts in persuading the department to undertake much more liberal purchases of books for the libraries of the much larger prisons at Atlanta and at Leavenworth.

* * * * *

It is earnestly recommended that a vigorous presentation of the needs of the prison libraries be made to the department by someone in person, backed by all the influence obtainable. It is also urged that a list of fiction suitable for prison libraries be co-operatively made with the utmost care. The needs of the prisoner in his reading for recreation are very special, and many books entirely suitable for the open shelf room of a public library should be ruthlessly excluded from the prison. Expert knowledge of the psychology of the prisoner should in some way be obtained in preparing a list of fiction for reading in prison. It is better that the prisoner read not at all than that he should be given many of the books eminently fit for one in the normal conditions and relations of life.

FRANKLIN F. HOPPER, Chairman.

* * * * *

Mrs. Sneed supplemented Mr. Hopper's report with a report of conditions in the federal prison at Atlanta and of conferences which she had had with officials from Washington. It was her opinion, based on advice from the prison authorities that the only way to accomplish anything is for some one to go to Washington, put the case plainly before the Department of Justice and ask that an appropriation be made for libraries in the federal prisons. Mr. Dudgeon moved that Mrs. Sneed, Dr. Owen and Mr. Hopper act as a committee representing the League with full power to act, and that the League pledge itself to hearty coöperation. Carried. Miss Tyler moved that the secretary of the League send a communication to the Council of the A. L. A., stating the progress of the committee and asking for its coöperation. On the motion of Mr. Dudgeon, $50.00 was placed at the disposal of the committee to carry on its work.

The report of the publications committee was then presented by the chairman, Mr. M. S. Dudgeon. At his suggestion the recommendations of the committee were voted on as they were read.

The League adopted the first, second and third recommendation of the committee; took no action on the fifth, and adopted the sixth. The report of the committee was then accepted.

REPORT OF THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Your committee respectfully reports the following:

1. A very definite demand has been presented to the committee from the various commissions calling for the publication of a buying list of about one thousand titles for use by small libraries. The committee has investigated the matter and is glad to report that Miss Zaidee Brown's list has been revised and brought up to date by Miss Webster of New York, and that this will admirably meet the demand. After going over the matter with Mr. Utley, it appeared that no advantage would result should this committee handle this publication. The committee recommends that the separate commissions deal directly with the New York state library. The committee is informed that the commissions will be circularized by the New York authorities for this purpose. The price is exceedingly reasonable, probably not exceeding two cents each in large quantities. It seems likely that arrangements can be made so that each commission can stamp or print upon the title page such matter as it sees fit.

We understand that copy of the list is now ready for the printer. When printed this list will also contain a magazine list.

2. It was suggested by the president of the League that the committee collect and print short paragraphs suitable for publication in newspapers during local campaigns for a library. The committee recommends that this be undertaken by one of the commissions as a sub-committee, rather than by the publications committee.

3. Mr. Gillis of California, has suggested that each commission prepare a list of the best material available treating of the history of its state. This seems to the committee the function of the state library rather than the commission and it recommends that this request be referred to the National Association of State Libraries.

4. It was suggested that the committee reprint Moulton's "Aids to Library Work with Foreigners." This matter was referred to the A. L. A. Publishing Board, which has arranged for its publication.

5. The committee has been asked also to consider the publication of a buying list for traveling libraries, to be followed by a periodical supplement probably issued in mimeograph form. The questionnaire submitted to the commissions indicates that there would be only a limited use of such a list, many commissions maintaining that present aids are sufficient. The commissions exhibited so little interest in the matter that this question is submitted to the League without recommendation.

6. The loss resulting from the susceptibility of the trustee or librarian of many of the smaller libraries, to the subtle wiles of the eloquent book-agent, calls for some authoritative pronouncement upon the value, or lack of value, of subscription books. To make such a pronouncement seems to be the function of the A. L. A. Publishing Board. The committee therefore respectfully recommends that such board be requested to make proper provision for such pronouncement.

Respectfully submitted,

M. S. DUDGEON, Chairman,
ZAIDEE BROWN,
MARY E. DOWNEY.

In the absence of the chairman of the committee on uniform financial reports for library commissions, the following report was read by the secretary:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNIFORM FINANCIAL REPORTS

The difficulties confronting the compiler of statistics of expenditures of library commissions or library extension departments are obvious, owing (1) to variations in organization and scope of work in different states, (2) to variations in accounting systems which must conform to the state accounting system, and (3) to variations in methods of appropriations. For example, in some states definite appropriations are made for certain departments of work, in others certain expenses such as printing, binding and office supplies are paid from the general state fund for all departments. In view of these facts, many commissions are of the opinion that a uniform accounting system which will meet the needs of every state is impracticable.

Your committee collected the financial reports of each library commission, or other state department doing library extension work and made a careful comparison of the items included.

It was found that these items could practically all be grouped under a few general headings, as given in Table I. It was further suggested that another summary giving approximate totals for various departments be added, as outlined in Table II.

The committee therefore submits this summary of expenses, as a tentative form, to be used in the annual report of the League for purposes of comparison.

The work of the committee has shown that such a summary can readily be made from the financial reports of the several commissions as they are now published and it is believed that this table would be a useful addition to the yearbook.

The outline here presented is not regarded as final, but is submitted for your discussion and amendment.

CLARA F. BALDWIN, Chairman.

TABLE I.

=Summary of Expenditures=

Books and binding
Direct aid
Pamphlets for distribution
Express, freight and cartage
Office supplies and furniture
Periodical clearing house
Periodical subscriptions and memberships
Postage
Printing
Salaries
State institutions
Summer school
Traveling expenses
Traveling library boxes
Miscellaneous
Total

TABLE II.

=Summary of Expenses by Departments=

Field work
Instruction
Traveling library
Direct aid
Legislative reference
School library work (for Oregon)
Educational reference (for N. Dakota)

The report was accepted.

The secretary then presented the following report of what the League Yearbook should contain.

LEAGUE OF LIBRARY COMMISSIONS' YEARBOOK

In accordance with the request of the president of the League, the secretary has made the following outline of the matter which should be included in the Yearbook to be published this coming autumn:

List of members of the League.
Officers.
Committees.
Constitution.

Report by states, giving under each the names of the executive staff, a list of the publications in print, and new legislation pertaining to library extension, any distinctly new phase of work taken up, and in the case of a new commission a full account of its form of organization and scope of activities.

Traveling libraries: Number of volumes in fixed groups; number of volumes on open shelves; loans.

Number of requests in answer to which books have been sent; number of volumes sent out.

Requests classified as follows: Groups of taxpayers, public libraries, schools, institutions, study clubs, individuals, other organizations.

Summary of public library conditions by states: Population, number of towns of over 2,000; number of libraries supported by tax; number of libraries supported by associations; number of subscription libraries; number of library buildings; number of trained librarians.

Financial report according to the recommendations of Miss Baldwin's report.

The report was accepted.

The nominating committee then presented the following names as officers of the League for the ensuing year:

For president, Mr. C. H. Milam, Indiana; for first vice-president, Miss Elizabeth B. Wales, Missouri; for second vice-president, Dr. Thomas M. Owen, Alabama; for secretary-treasurer, Miss Zaidee Brown, Massachusetts; publications committee: M. S. Dudgeon, Wisconsin, chairman; Miss Fannie C. Rawson, Kentucky; Miss Caroline F. Webster, New York.

It was voted to instruct the secretary to cast the ballot for these officers.

The meeting adjourned.

SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

Fourth Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Canada, June 26-July 2, 1912

FIRST (GENERAL) SESSION

(Thursday, June 27, 2:30 p. m.)

In the absence of the president, the vice-president, Herbert O. Brigham, state librarian of Rhode Island, called the meeting to order in, the ball room of the Chateau Laurier.

The VICE-PRESIDENT: Ladies and Gentlemen, we will open the session this afternoon with the consideration of a general topic, which will be taken part in by Mr. Dudgeon and by other speakers who will discuss Mr. Dudgeon's paper. It so happens that this year we have been so fortunate as to have the article reprinted beforehand in the publication of the Special Libraries Association, so that doubtless many of you are already familiar with the paper.

I am going to appoint on the nominating committee Messrs. George W. Lee of Boston, John A. Lapp of Indianapolis, and Miss E. V. Dobbins of New York City.

We are very fortunate in having with us to take the main paper for this opening session a man who has been actively engaged in special library work for some time in the west, one who is very familiar with the development of the "Wisconsin idea" of legislative reference work, and closely associated with Dr. McCarthy in developing that idea.

I take great pleasure in introducing to you Mr. M. S. Dudgeon, secretary of the Wisconsin library commission, who will talk upon the subject of "The plan, scope and results of special libraries."

Mr. DUDGEON: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen--There are those who maintain that there is no such thing as a special library in a class of its own, but that what we call a special library is simply a general reference library which by the needs of its patrons has become somewhat specialized in its methods and in its equipment. On the other hand, there are those who maintain that a special library has so distinctly a different function and purpose, that its scope is so different, that its equipment is so different, and that the equipment, the qualities and the characteristics of those who man the library are so different, as to entitle such an institution to an entirely different classification; that it is not a general reference library, but a special library, something entirely different. It seems to me to be more or less a distinction without a difference, more or less a play upon words. I have, at the request of the Program Committee, written down what seemed to me the perfectly obvious things that might be said about the scope and purposes of the special library. You have the paper before you as printed in "Special Libraries," and will probably be fortunate enough to escape some detail, as I will try to shorten this somewhat in the reading.[13]

[13] Mr. Dudgeon's paper appeared in full in "Special Libraries," June, 1912, pp. 129-133.

The VICE-PRESIDENT: I think we all have a clear understanding of just what a special library means, and I think we should all notice especially the allusion that Mr. Dudgeon made to the reference library as compared to the public library, in the definition of the use of the book.

I think one of the finest examples of a special librarian one can find is in our absent president. Dr. Whitten is doubtless one of the best authorities today on public utilities, and he has this month gone to London, where he is spending the summer investigating public utilities for the National Civic Federation. That, I think, accounts for his absence, and we regret very much that he is not here.

I am going to ask Mr. Josephson of the John Crerar Library, Chicago, to lead the discussion.

A. G. S. JOSEPHSON: I am afraid that you will not find my paper what you expected it to be, a discussion of Mr. Dudgeon's paper. When Mr. Lapp wrote me some time ago to ask if I would not discuss the question, I began to try to make up my own mind as to what a special library was. I had made my mental notes on that subject, and when Mr. Dudgeon's paper came and I read it and undertook to discuss it, it happened that my own ideas came first.[14]

[14] Mr. Josephson's discussion will appear in a later issue of "Special Libraries."

The VICE-PRESIDENT: I am going to ask Mr. W. P. Cutter, librarian of the Engineering Societies of New York City, to contribute either by a paper or an oral discussion of Mr. Dudgeon's address.

Mr. CUTTER: I do not know that I have anything to offer as a contribution to the discussion of Mr. Dudgeon's very interesting paper and Mr. Josephson's very interesting discussion of it. I might, perhaps, with my usual liking to express things briefly, say that I consider a special library as one that serves people who are doing things, and a reference library one which serves people who are thinking things. The former are not thinking about doing things, they are already doing them. I think that applies also to people who are serving as legislators, who are making laws; to sociologists, who are making attempts to handle crime and other sociological questions. I believe that the development now in the public library world is in the direction of service to the public. For twenty-five or twenty-six years now we have been talking about, first, books, and then about places for storing books, buildings to put them in, methods of cataloging them, charging them, of making picture bulletins for children and all that, and we have finally arrived at a discussion of the methods of serving the people who are really doing things. It has taken about twenty-five years to arrive at that point, and I think we are reaching that goal. I noticed, although I was not present at the meeting this morning, that in two reports of committees of the American Library Association, an instrument was mentioned which has been used in one library, at least, to my knowledge, for the reproduction of material for people who are doing things, a reproduction of printed material, manuscripts, maps, drawings, etc. This is the first time that has come up, I think, in a report in the American Library Association on the reference side.

The VICE-PRESIDENT: I hoped that Dr. McCarthy, the head of the legislative reference department of the Wisconsin library, and Mr. Galbreath, former state librarian of Ohio, who is now secretary of the Constitutional Convention of Ohio, would be present today. In their absence the discussion is now open to the members, and I hope there will be a very general and free discussion.

JOHN A. LAPP: I have not very much to say except to emphasize one or two points which Mr. Dudgeon brought out in his paper. One of those points is the fact that the material which we deal with in special libraries is not found in books. In a short experience of only four years, I think, outside of those references to legal works, to law periodicals and law books, I have not been able to do one-tenth of my work from books or from published material. Most of the work, the real work, which has been done by the legislative reference department of Indiana has been done through work which we have prepared, which we have drawn up from the general material scattered here and there in obscure sources and from letters which we had written to experts outside. I say scarcely one-tenth, and I do not know but perhaps that is too liberal. One-tenth of the questions we have been able to answer from published material. That would seem to me to be the most distinguishing point about the special library. I believe that the heads of the industrial libraries, the manufacturing libraries, the commercial libraries, will agree with me on that point.

The subject of the training of special librarians is the one subject here upon which there seems to be, thus far, a division of opinion. I have always believed that the person who has a general knowledge of the subject, with a library training, is the person who is best qualified to do the work of a special library. I think that is true particularly in legislative and municipal reference work; but, on the other hand, it should be emphasized that if that person did not have a pretty good knowledge of library work, or if he did not have a pretty efficient librarian with him, he would make a sorry failure, as Mr. Dudgeon has suggested. At the same time, I do not believe that the librarian who is trained as a librarian merely, who loves books and so on, can get hold of the real vital part of the work in a way that the person who is using the special library demands. On the whole I am inclined to believe that the best working arrangement is to have a man in the library who has a knowledge of the subject matter and a person who knows something about library work and library training, and then to have him supplemented by some one who knows the library side of it, with a bare knowledge of the other subjects, and, working together, they can bring about a very efficient special library service. That is the ideal of a special library combination. I think it has worked out in most cases. But, again, speaking from personal knowledge, I do not think that I could ever do very much in legislative reference work if I were a librarian without the other training. Whatever I had of librarian training, through the school, when I went into the work, might be placed in very small compass--I haven't told this before but I will confess now that when I began I knew very little about librarianship. If my assistants knew that at the time, at any rate, I have never told It before, but I have learned something about it since that time. But I think I could have made a better success of librarianship if I had had more library training. On the other hand, I do not believe I could have gotten along if I had not had the other side of the subject more largely. So I agree with Mr. Dudgeon on most points as to that question; but I would suggest that the person who is in charge, if he is not fairly well grounded in librarian skill and librarian art, should have some one with him who would keep him off the rocks, because he will go on the rocks if he does not have some one to guide him.

The special library meets a very special need. That has been pointed out many times. We deal with material that is not in print. We manufacture it. Many times we must color it with our own opinions. Some people say that in public affairs, in municipal and legislative reference work, we should not allow our own personality or our judgment to enter into the work. I should like to find a librarian who is able to keep from doing that. If I have knowledge which to me seems certain, if I know a certain fact and have the information right at hand, I cannot refrain from telling the person who ought to know that fact; I cannot refrain from telling him that a certain thing is right, or a certain thing is wrong. While we must all do it diplomatically, it is out of the question, I believe, for a man to be efficient as a special librarian, even in dealing with the public affairs in libraries, to avoid giving his own opinions on subjects. What is the use of his getting a knowledge of the subject if he cannot really use it? But he should use it very discreetly.

The special library was very well described by Mr. Cutter when he said it was a library for those who do things, while the reference library is for those people who think of things. This is the age of efficiency. I believe that the librarian is the efficiency engineer, or ought to be the efficiency engineer, of the educational world. I think the general reference librarian ought to be that, and I think the librarian of the special library, particularly of the manufacturing and industrial library, can be to a large degree the efficiency expert of such a concern.

GUY E. MARION: I think the people who are present here would take a good deal of satisfaction in knowing who the people are that are actually and most vitally interested in special library work, and I have analyzed an up-to-date membership list which I hold here in my hand, of which I should be glad to show copies to any who may be interested. We have now grown to a group of 224 people who are interested. That is a growth, roughly, of twenty-five per cent since our last meeting in New York City. There are four insurance libraries in the country. There are nineteen people who are interested in public utilities. There are five financial libraries. There are among the commercial, technical and scientific libraries (many of which are in manufacturing concerns), forty-eight. Among the public affairs libraries, which cover the legislative reference departments of state libraries as well, there are something like thirty-six. It is interesting to note that the public libraries have themselves been sufficiently interested to know what we are doing, so that forty-five of them have become members of this association, to be in touch, I presume, with what we are aiming for. There are twenty-nine colleges and universities interested; and of miscellaneous people whom we can hardly classify, not knowing where they belong, there are thirty-eight. In this connection I think it is worth while to say to you, many of you who frequently change about the country, or are looking for advancement, that it would not be amiss for you to fill out one of the little blanks showing your qualifications, the things in which you are interested. At the present moment I know of the largest automobile concern in this country, the automobile trust, which is looking for an active, wide-awake librarian, probably a man. Those opportunities are coming to the attention of your secretary quite frequently, and we shall always be glad to have you keep in touch with us by filling out one of these little blanks. We may be able to readjust you.

The VICE-PRESIDENT: The Secretary has an announcement to make in regard to city planning.

Mr. MARION: I think it would not be amiss for me to speak of three or four of our bibliographies. There has been one list published under the direction of Mr. Meyer of the Library of Congress, called "Selected list of references on the short ballot," which is easily obtainable at our headquarters; also a list of references on street railway service by Robert H. Whitten, our president. There was prepared by Mr. Dana, "The social questions of today," which is a very useful compilation of subjects, and institutions and people interested in social questions. Then, in addition, our May number of "Special Libraries" has published probably the most remarkable collection of city planning items that has ever been gathered together. It was done co-operatively between the Library of Congress and the Department of landscape architecture of Harvard university. (Here the Secretary read a notice of a later complete bibliography of City planning which will be published by the Library of Congress in which a new complete classification scheme for the arrangement of all the articles will be used.)

I think that the classification alone will be exceedingly useful to you who ultimately, with the growth of American cities and their rapid development, are going to be forced to take an interest in the subject of their re-arrangement. This is going to become more and more a vital problem, it seems to me, in the future here in America than it ever has been in the past; and when the final list is published it will consider not only American experience, but also European, appertaining to that subject.

GEORGE W. LEE: I should think this might be a good chance for people to express themselves as to the need of bibliographical matter to go into "Special libraries," as members who receive "Special Libraries," whether they think the trend of articles is about right and to make suggestions. Possibly it might be some guide to the editorial committee to know whether the material they are putting in is about right, or whether there are certain things that might with advantage be inserted. Then the question comes, are you helping, yourself, to make up these bibliographies?

The VICE-PRESIDENT: Perhaps Mr. Lapp can speak of the various ways in which we made the bibliographies, working with the Library of Congress methods and various others.