made.

Time and strength should not be sacrificed to absolute mathematical accuracy in all headings of a similar class. Suppose there are slight differences? Let them go, and put in your time on something more valuable. I have known some examples of egregious blunders. One of these concerned a reprint of one of the Cramoisy Jesuit Relations. In checking up an auction catalog I came to an item which I knew was a reprint of a Jesuit letter. In looking the matter up in our card catalog I found that according to the card it appeared that we had a genuine Jesuit relation. You know that these are very rare, and I knew that we had no genuine one in the library, but for certainty went to the shelves and got the book indicated. The title-page read correctly, and the cataloger had faithfully followed rules and copied it literatim, but I knew from the paper, type, and general

appearance, that the book was a reprint, and, turning the leaf, found that it had been reproduced at the charges of Mr. Lenox, of New York. I called the attention of the cataloger to it and stated the case. The card was removed and consulted upon, but there was no provision in the rules for a note on the bottom of the card simply stating that it was a reprint, and it finally found its way back to the cabinet as false and misleading as before. Now this was a flat lie, and an example of what cataloging should not be.

IT is my purpose to-day to speak to those members of the A. L. A. who have neither studied the subject of charging systems nor had much experience in their manipulation. In so doing my words cannot fail to be to many as a tale that has been many times told. Probably foreseeing this, our chairman wrote to me: 'We want original ideas." My dear Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen, to supply anything whatever from a field which has never lain fallow, but has, on the contrary, yielded yearly to the Library Journal and other storehouses crop after crop of value, is almost more than common clay can do.

To the beginner in library science I would therefore say that most original thing, "read the Library Journal." Everything which is ever likely to be said has already there been said, and all the most approved systems have been described. Read the Journal, then, always remembering that the ledger, indicator, and dummy systems are relics of the dark ages, and bearing in mind that the kind of library should influence one in the selection of a charging system, that one suited to a college library is not the one for a public library with a large circulation, and that it is better to adopt a system to

which your library will grow than one which it will outgrow.

A few small points, not new, but which help to make a charging system what it should be, may be suggested here.

(1) If for any reason a reader is debarred the use of the library, place among the registration blanks in front of his blank, a yellow card(the initiated will recognize the criticism card). On the top line write his name and below the reason for the withdrawal of his privilege.

(2) When pasting a pocket in a book, put it on the last page of the book, not on the cover, as continued stamping of the cover loosens the binding.

(3) Write the book number on the pocket. This obviates the necessity of turning the book to look at the book-plate.

(4) Put a, b, c, etc., at the left of the call number, instead of the usual cop. I, cop. 2, etc. It is easier, shorter, and answers the same purpose. (5) Stamp on the reader's card, etc., the date when the book is due; not, as is often done, the date of issue.

(6) If your circulation is small enough to admit of it, put the book number, as well as the date, on the reader's card. It is often of use.

(7) Fasten a reader's call slip to his card with a utility paper slip, or some other device. This prevents its loss.

(8) If your staff of charging clerks is large, incorporate an initial of each clerk in his datingstamp. Errors can thus be traced and it makes clerks careful.

(9) If you put the reader's card in the pocket of the book when the book card is taken out, this will save stamping the date on the pocket, since it always appears on the reader's card. Of course this necessitates discharging a book as soon as it comes in, and could not be done if the circulation were large.

(10) If your collection of books is not too small, follow the example of most of your fellow-librarians and use the two-book system.

I have appended to this paper a list of the articles on charging systems which have appeared since Mr. Carr's list, printed in the Library Journal in 1889; I shall be glad to answer any questions, and we are prepared to charge and discharge books by four different systems as follows:

1. The Philadelphia Free Library system, which is a slight modification of the famous Newark system, the one generally accepted as the best for a large public library.

2. The Drexel Institute charging system, which is similar to that used in most college libraries.

3. The N. E. Browne system, the newest development in charging systems, and one bound to grow in favor, because by it books can be charged by merely stamping a date.

4. The Albany Y. W. C. A. system, a temporary slip system in which slips of various colors are used to indicate different days of the week, and which is suited to a very small library.

REFERENCE LIST ON CHARGING SYSTEMS.

1. Carr, H: J. Report on charging systems. Lib. j. 14: 203-214 (1889).

(Historical treatment of charging systems and statistics of their use in America, with a bibliography of the subject, 1876-1888.)

2. Schwartz, J. Apprentices' Library charging system. Lib. j. 14: 468 469 (1889).

3. Davis, O. S. Y. M. C. A. Library, Albany, charging system. Lib. j. 16: 232(1891).

5. Circular of the Board of Library Commissioners, state of New Hampshire. Lib. j. 18: 42 (1893).

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

12.

13.

(Circular letter relating to library methods, copies of which were sent to the trustees of each libra

ry in N. H. Recommends slip-charging system

and gives specific directions for using it.) Jones, G. M. Delivery-desk difficulties. Lib. j. 18: 86 (1893).

(Synopsis of a paper delivered before the Mass. Lib. Club.)

Plummer, M. W. Loan systems. (See A. L. A. World's Lib. Congress Papers, 1893, p. 898-906.)

(Gives advantages and disadvantages of the ledger, temporary slip, card, dummy and indicator systems.)

An abstract of this paper also appeared in Lib. j., 18: 242-246 (1893).

Fletcher, W: I. Public libraries in America (1894), p. 66.

Plummer, M. W. Hints to small libraries (1894), p. 32–41.

(Describes the ordinary double-entry charging system, suggesting several modifications for varying conditions.)

Dana, J: C. Public library handbook (1895), p. 46 -90.

(Gives explicit directions as to a charging clerk's duties, and warns of many points which long experience has shown need especial care.) Bolton, C: K.

Charging systems and statistics. Lib. j. 19: 225-226 (1894).

(A plea for the single-entry system, at the sacrifice of foolish statistics, since all necessary questions can be answered by that system.) Browne, N. E. Another charging system. Lib. j. 20: 168 (1895).

(Reader's pocket instead of reader's card used.) For discussion of this system, see Lib. j., 21: C127 128 and p. 300.

14. Jones, G. M. Cards for the "Two-book" system. Lib. j. 20: 168-172 (1895).

(Letters from prominent librarians, giving usage in their libraries. No definite conclusion as to the best method is arrived at.)

15. Hill, F. P. Preparing a book for issue; and charging systems. Lib. j. 21: c51

56 (1896).

(Contains also a description of the Newark charging system, il. by sample blanks.)

For discussion following this paper, see Lib. j., 21 C147-149.

A. L. A. Primer. Charging system. Pub. libs., v. I, p. 79-80 (1896). Pennock, B. W. system. Lib. j.

The Browne charging 22: 294–296 (1897).

THE HE aim of the reference department is, as you all know, to afford to readers the simplest, easiest, and quickest access to the resources of the library on any subject in which they may be interested or desire information. This may be accomplished by either introducing the inquirer directly to the books where his questions will be answered, or helping him to an understanding of the mysteries of the catalog, or explaining the use of indexes, bibliographies, and other library tools, or compiling lists for him in short, by doing anything and everything which will conduce to getting him the right book at the right moment.

In a library where this work must be performed with a very limited number of books, the importance of the selection of the books and the skill of the attendant in handling them can hardly be overestimated.

Whether or no the books will do all the work of which they are capable, will depend upon the expertness of the attendant. The complete knowledge of the books requisite for a ready and effective handling can be gained only by long experience in their use, but as aids toward acquiring this familiarity with the books I would suggest a study of what they have to say of themselves, their scope and limitations as set forth in the preface or introduction, the title-page, or the table of contents. If, for example, the title-page of a biographical dictionary claims to treat only of English contemporaries, you may be saved the time and trouble of searching that book for a German who died in the 18th century. Where definite information cannot be drawn from these sources, test the book for yourselves, propose questions that have been brought in or that you may originate, look up subjects under various headings, observe what departments of knowledge are most fully and satisfactorily treated, notice whether there are illustrations, and whether these are explanatory or merely ornamental. Before you are thoroughly familiar with a work, and sometimes after you think you know it pretty well, make free use of the index. Even though it seem to put you one step farther from

the matter you seek, it will often prove the shortest way in the end. In the index you will frequently find names and subjects not brought out in the body of the work, and by its help will avoid the risk of material evading you because the particular heading used did not suggest itself.

In addition to the usual reference-books, by all means have the sets of bound periodicals stacked in the reference-room. This plan has been tried for years in the Pratt Institute Library and has proved most satisfactory in its working. Even should loss or injury occur in a few cases, it is not too great a price to pay for the increased usefulness of the books. When there is free access to the shelves, very little assistance from the person in charge will enable visitors to use the indexes compiled by Dr. Poole, Mr. Fletcher, and the Cleveland Library, and with these as guides, teachers and students, members of clubs and debating societies, scholars and newspaper reporters will be able to find for themselves the latest word of the best authority on their respective subjects.

Several of the magazines that every library is sure to possess - Harper's Monthly, the Atlantic, Popular Science Monthly, etc. — have published invaluable indexes of their own. The field covered is so much narrower that the work has gone deeper than is possible with the general indexes, and the same article appears under several headings with numerous crossreferences, while portraits and engravings are also brought out.

From the nature of the case it is impossible for any index to be absolutely up to date. Not to be unprepared for requests for articles appearing in the interim, the reference librarian should spend a few moments each day in running through the periodicals, including newspapers.

With the multifarious duties that fall to the lot of each worker in a library, no one can afford the time for a thorough perusal of the papers, but if he take time for nothing more than a glance at the tables of contents and the headlines he will, by this means, keep posted

on what is going on in the world, will be able to anticipate the needs of the public, and, when some event of unusual importance or some happening of local interest directs the attention of the reading community in one direction, instead of being overwhelmed by a sudden and unexpected run on his resources, he will be prepared for the emergency and will have the satisfaction of referring the very first inquirer to a list already prepared and awaiting his use. Courses of local lectures, series of readings, the appearance of a noted musician, topics of discussion which are filling people's minds, the approach of a holiday, should all be heralded by the librarian with bulletins of references. The death of a great man may in the same way be made the occasion of calling attention to his work and what has been written concerning him. In the case of an author, a large demand for his books will almost inevitably follow as the result of a reading list of his works and biographies, critical essays, and poems to his memory.

Besides these lists which the librarian prepares without warning, and largely as a matter of self-defence, he should expect and invite requests from literary and study clubs for outlines of courses and lists of material on the subject selected for the winter's work.

In all list-making let the principle of selection be the prevailing rule. While every list should fairly represent the full resources of the library, do not, except in rare cases, for the sake of exhaustiveness, include material only indirectly bearing on the subject in hand. A really exhaustive list may be a satisfaction to the professional pride of the compiler, but it will generally produce disappointment to the reader in the present and distrust for the future. In compiling lists make use of every possible aid, your own catalog and finding lists, catalogs, lists, and bulletins of other libraries, annotated lists of books and bibliographies, and indexes to periodicals and general literature. Some libraries, however, make it the rule to exclude entries from magazines indexed by Poole as an unnecessary duplication of work. Some of the lists most useful for this work are the Philadelphia Mercantile Library bulletins, the Boston Public Library chronological index to historical fiction, the San Francisco Library annotated list of English prose fiction, the Providence Public Library monthly bulletins, and the bulletins published from time to time by Cornell Uni

versity Library, the Boston and Salem public libraries. Among select lists of books, Bowker and Iles' "Reader's guide in economic, social and political science," Adams' “Manual of historical literature," Griswold's "Select list of novels and tales," Sargent's "Reading for the young," and the two lists recently prepared under the supervision of Mr. Iles and published by the A. L. A., the "Bibliography of fine arts," by Sturgis and Krehbiel, and the "List of books for girls and women and their clubs."

All lists, of course, are to be filed in some convenient way, and kept carefully up to date by the systematic addition of items found in your running through magazines and new books. An alphabetical list of lists will greatly facilitate reference to the lists on hand.

All material, in fact, which has been found with difficulty and after long search should be recorded in some permanent form. Experience has shown that certain questions come around with the regularity of the seasons, and the references to them once found and noted are available for all time. A convenient form in which to keep such material not calculated to take shape as reading lists, is to enter it on cards (the backs of spoiled catalog cards will do), and to file them alphabetically in boxes. In this index, references are in place to all sorts of odds and ends of information that you pick up in your reading, or attract your attention in going through the magazines, clippings from newspapers, and items that no index, however complete, will bring out, which you will surely need and would otherwise be at a loss to know where to find.

In his desire to be of service to the eager searcher for knowledge, the reference librarian should not be satisfied with the posting of bulletins and directing visitors to sources of information on the shelves, but should be willing in certain cases to gather material on a given subject in one place where it may conveniently be consulted and different works weighed side by side. To carry this idea still further, it may be of service to a club doing serious work to have a small collection of books withdrawn from circulation and reserved for a time for their exclusive use. To have this plan work to advantage, the readers must do their small share of sending timely notice to the librarian, that he may search out the desired material or call in the books from circulation.

The famous dictum, "Speech was given to man to conceal thought," is often forcibly brought to mind by the ingenuity with which visitors to the reference-room succeed in hiding their desires behind their questions. And right here lies the opportunity for the exercise of one of the greatest gifts of the successful librarian -the ability by skilful questioning, without appearance of curiosity or impertinence, to extract from the vaguest, most general requests, a clear idea of what the inquirer really needs. This faculty—a facility in reducing large, abstract demands to concrete terms, as, for example, in resolving a request for a book that will tell everything about all kinds of birds into a demand for a book on the diseases of chickens; the sort of second sight that recognizes books under all sorts of indefinite, misleading descriptions, from the color of the covers or the positions on the shelves to the date when this particular person last used it, and readily interprets "that book of St. Anthony's on the American Eagle" to mean an article on the stars and stripes which appeared in St. Nicholas - stands

in the equipment of a reference librarian only second in importance to the complete mastery of his tools. In fact, so important are the relations of the reference librarian to his public that I am almost prepared to put tact in meeting strangers and making them feel at home in the library, in knowing how far assistance will be a help and when it will become a bore, in impressing each visitor with personal interest in meeting his particular need, to put this, I repeat, in the same category which includes the largest possible knowledge of literature and of books about books, the broadest culture, a store of general information sometimes having no connection with books, and a memory that not only treasures up items of interest but instinctively pigeon-holes them ready to be called to light at a moment's notice. The demands of the work are great, but the interest of the work itself and the opportunities it affords of meeting people and seeing what interests them while helping them to satisfy their needs are sufficient compensation for all one may give out in energy and enthusiasm.

IN

N taking up the subject of librarians' aids, it is my aim to call attention to a "string of generalities," which some one has said "can be of no special use to anyone," to show that these same generalities comprise opportunities for all. The librarian must take his aids as they come, from the "four corners of the world,"

"Not chaos-like, together crushed and bruised, But as a world, harmoniously confus'd, Where order in variety we see,

And where, though all things differ, all agree." The librarian draws his resources from the whole world. People, places, associations, books, magazines, stray scraps of information, all have their place among the librarian's tools; and each day with its meetings, its greetings, its continual rubbings, should make the librarian the richer in aids towards a means for the end. And it is of this gift of turning into gold all things he touches that I wish to speak. Of all people the librarian has the greatest opportunity of knowing good and for doing

good, because all avenues alike are open to him; he has the key to all knowledge; it passes through his hands for good or ill to be dispensed to its seekers. The librarian aware of his power and his weakness has made for himself this splendid Association, than which nothing could be of greater help, encouragement and inspiration; as a smaller part of the great whole comes the state association, with the aid to be gained by comparing methods and exchanging ideas. Through the state library commissions all sorts of help may be obtained, and their bureaus of information contain inexhaustible funds of advice and counsel, with an enthusiasm which does not flag even under the poser of a question how to arouse interest which has been long dead in a library; there might be a weakening of enthusiasm if, as in one case, the cause of dying had been traced to a little habit of the librarian, of closing up shop in order to attend baseball games.

To the teacher the librarian looks for many