A Library Primer Part 15

All he will have to do is to mark on the t.i.tle of each volume, in small figures, its schedule number, and, when the books are done, put down the prices and add up the column of figures, and make out his statement as per the number of schedule.

This method gives the librarian a complete list of volumes sent and returned, and by laying away these schedules she has for handy reference a very complete list of prices. It saves the binder from writing out the name of each volume on his bill, and as the librarian must keep a list of books sent, why not keep them this way as well as any other? I have mislaid or lost hundreds of lettering slips, which are the bane of a bookbinder's existence. Lay down some rules for the cutting of books, placing of plates, binding of covers, and advertis.e.m.e.nts, style of lettering, etc., and have your binder follow them.

Don't ever cut with a folder before sending to binder, as it makes the sewing more difficult.

Don't pull to pieces or take out t.i.tles and indexes. The binder always takes care of that.

Don't take off ads, as it sometimes leaves unsightly tears or takes away pages, and if all leaves are paged the binder is at a loss to know if the book is complete.

Don't ever use mucilage or glue. Your bookbinder will send you a little paste, or you can make it by boiling flour and water and sprinkling in a little salt. If you wish to keep it for a long time, mix a few drops of oil of cloves with it and seal up.

Of course there are cases where some of these rules don't apply, such as volumes made up from leaves taken from several other volumes or pamphlets.

In case of a book of this kind place every leaf in correct order, and write directions very carefully."

Many books will need repair. A few hours spent in the bindery, studying the methods of putting a book together, will be helpful, not only in the matter of securing good binding, but in the repairing of books that have gone to pieces. Mend and rebind your books the minute they seem to need it. Delay is the extravagant thing in this case. If you are slow in this matter, leaves and sections will be lost, and the wear the broken-backed volume is getting will soon remove a part of the fold at the back of the several sections, and make the whole book a hopeless wreck forever.

CHAPTER XXVIII

Pamphlets

Save all pamphlets having to do with local history, and save also those of a general nature which promise ever to be of any importance.

In a small library, however, or in any library in which money for salaries is limited, and the work to be done in the regular matter of attending to the public, lending books, etc., is great, do not waste time in trying to arrange or catalog pamphlets. Simply let them acc.u.mulate, arranging them roughly in cla.s.ses. Bind at once only those that seem absolutely to demand it. In the history of almost any library the time will come when it will be possible to sort out pamphlets, arrange them properly, catalog such as are worth it, bind them singly or in groups, and incorporate them into the library. But any system of arranging and sorting pamphlets which does anything more than very roughly to arrange and store them, and attempts to make them, without much labor, accessible to the general public, is almost sure to be a failure. This is not true of pamphlets to which the public has not access. But pamphlets not fully cataloged and not accessible to the public are, no matter how scientifically arranged, almost useless plunder. To keep them clean and in order nothing is as good as a pamphlet case, which any boxmaker can make, of cardboard about 9 inches high, 7 inches deep, and 2 inches thick, open at the back. They will cost from 4 to 12 cents each, according to quality of board used and quant.i.ty ordered. For holding a few pamphlets together temporarily Ballard's "klips" are best. Sold by H.H. Ballard, Pittsfield, Ma.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: L.B. pamphlet case. (Various sizes.)]

CHAPTER XXIX

Public doc.u.ments

Adelaide R. Ha.s.se, of the New York Public library

How issued

Government doc.u.ments are issued in two sets or editions, viz.: the Congressional or sheep, and the Departmental or cloth. The annual reports of the heads of departments, with many of the serial and occasional publications of the various departments, are contained in the sheep set, and in addition, all the reports of committees, and records of the transactions of congress, except the debates which are contained in the Congressional record. The cloth set contains all the publications of the various departments, irrespective of the fact that some of them may have appeared in the sheep set.

To whom issued

The depository libraries receive the sheep set by law from the superintendent of doc.u.ments. Each department has its own list of "exchanges" (i.e., designations) which receive gratis the publications of that department intended for general distribution. Non-depository libraries receive their doc.u.ments regularly from the departments when on the department exchange list, or irregularly from their representatives in congress. "Remainder libraries" receive from the superintendent of doc.u.ments such doc.u.ments as can be supplied from the fractional quotas sent to him after the editions ordered for the use of congress have been equally divided among the senators and representatives.

"Special libraries" are those libraries specially designated by members of congress to receive the publications of the geological survey.

Many thousands of books have been sent on special application to libraries not on the list. The depository, remainder, and special libraries together now number over 1300.

All the departments still control the distribution of their own publications, the superintendent of doc.u.ments only distributing the sheep set, and such of the department publications as have been turned over to him by the departments for this purpose, or of which there have been remainders. Sometimes the number of copies of its own publications allotted to the department is very small and soon exhausted.

Librarians and others who want full information about the distribution, present methods of issue, etc., of public doc.u.ments, should send for the First annual report of the superintendent of doc.u.ments. In addition there have been issued from his office, since its establishment in March, 1895, a check list of public doc.u.ments, and since January, 1895, a monthly catalog of current publications.

Both are mailed free upon application.

Care in a library

The question of the most economical, and at the same time satisfactory manner of caring for doc.u.ments in a library, cannot be considered in the s.p.a.ce of so brief an article as this necessarily must be. After all, it is a question that must be settled by each library for itself, since it rests chiefly upon the extent to which the library can afford duplication.

Depository libraries have better opportunities than others for filling up the sheep set, and having this set they have the greater portion of those doc.u.ments useful to the average library. A complete sheep set from the 15th Congress to the close of the 53d Congress numbers slightly over 3343V., and will require 860 feet of shelving, or six modern iron book stacks.

Though it is done in a few cases, the subject cla.s.sification of the sheep set is not to be recommended. Where subject cla.s.sification, or the incorporation of the doc.u.ments in the general library, is desired, the cloth set is preferable, and is in most cases procurable. If a library can afford shelf room for both, it will be found more satisfactory to keep the sheep set intact, and to make a selection of such reports from the cloth set as will be locally useful to the library.

No small library should undertake to acquire any doc.u.ments but those for which it has an actual use; only the largest libraries can afford the task of filling up sets of doc.u.ments simply for the sake of having a complete record.

Small libraries, and all libraries in need of any special report or doc.u.ment, can get it, in most cases, by applying to the superintendent of doc.u.ments. Return all your duplicates to the superintendent of doc.u.ments; arrangements for their transportation will be made by him upon notification, and anything he has that is needed will be sent in exchange.

Do not try to collect a complete set of government doc.u.ments; the government of the United States has not yet been able to do that.

CHAPTER x.x.x

Checking the library

Check the library over occasionally. It need not be done every year.

It is an expensive thing to do, in time, and is not of great value when done; but now and then it must be gone through with. It is not necessary to close the library for this purpose. Take one department at a time and check it by the shelf-list. Make a careful list of all books missing. Check this list by the charging slips at the counter.

For those still missing make a general but hasty search through the library. Go over each part of the library in this way. Then compile all lists of missing books into one list, arranged in the order of their call-numbers. Once or twice a week for several months go over the library with this list, looking for missing books. Even with access to the shelves, and with great freedom in matters of circulation, not many books will be found missing, under ordinary circ.u.mstances, at the end of a six months' search. Such books as are still missing at the end of any given period, together with those that have been discarded as worn out, and those that have been lost by borrowers, should be properly marked on the shelf-list, and should have an entry in the accession book, stating what has become of them.

If they are not replaced, it will be advisable to withdraw the cards representing them from the card catalog, or to write on the cards the fact of withdrawal and the cause.

Keep a record of all books withdrawn from the library for whatever reason.

CHAPTER x.x.xI

Lists, bulletins, printed catalog

Give the public access to the card catalog if possible. If a dictionary catalog is made it will prove to be most helpful to the serious students. For the average reader, the person who wishes to get a recent book, the latest novel, etc., prepare lists of additions from month to month, post them up in some convenient place in the library, and put them in a binder to be left on desk or table in the delivery room.

Print lists of additions, if possible, in the local papers; also publish reference lists having to do with current events and matters of popular interest. Oftentimes the newspapers will furnish, for a small sum, extra copies of the lists which they have printed. If the means warrant the expenditure, a periodical bulletin, appearing once a month, or even oftener, containing information about the library, notes on recent additions, suggestions as to the use of books, lists on special subjects, and lists of books lately added may prove useful.