VI

The Operation and Services of the Library

W

THE LIBRARY IN OPERATION

HILE Billings was gathering books, journals, reports, dissertations, and other literature, the Library had to be managed, publications had to be registered, classified, cataloged, and shelved, readers had to be assisted, and Congress had to be approached annually for funds.

For the first few years the shelves in Ford's were probably wood, constantly extended as Billings acquired more and more volumes. In 1871, around the time the decision was made to develop a national library, Billings began to order iron stacks.1 Eventually the only space for expansion was upward, toward the high ceiling. A second level of stacks was erected atop the stacks against the walls, with an iron balcony reached by an iron stairway allowing access to the upper level.2 Finally books had to be double shelved. A tall metal bookcase with glass doors for display and protection of rare books and incunabula was placed against the front wall between the windows. 3

In the 1860's the clientele of the Library was exclusively military. In the seventies, when it was opened to the entire medical profession, civilians gradually outnumbered medical officers. A visualization of the interior of the Library and the number of readers may be obtained from the furnishings in 1887: 57 chairs, 10 desks, 9 tables, 9 stools, 8 spittoons, 7 book and file cases, 5 ladders, 2 library tables, 2 manuscript cabinets, 2 water coolers, 1 case of book drawers, 1 card case, 1 negative case, 1 map chest, 1 umbrella stand, 1 marble top table, 1 washstand, 1 wash bowl and pitcher, and 1 clock.5 Electric fans and air-conditioning were in the future, and during the hot Washington summers the only relief came from open windows and awnings.

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Billings' office was in Riggs. Here publications were received, unpacked, and examined by clerks to make certain that no pages or plates were missing. The short title, author's name, size, date and place of publication were written in the Register. The books were classified according to subject, as anatomy, surgery, and so on. The registration number and classification were written on a book plate pasted inside the front cover. They were then sent to Ford's and shelved.

In 1883 on being appointed head of the newly created Museum and Library

Division, Billings moved his office to a room in the house attached to Ford's. His office had a rug on the floor and awnings on the windows, contained 2 sofas, 2 desks, 2 tables, 1 small table, 12 chairs, 1 stool, 3 revolving book towers, 1 cabinet for engravings, 1 cabinet for letters, 17 book and file cases, 1 card case, 1 map holder, 1 fireproof safe, 1 typewriter, 2 clocks, 1 drop light, 2 mirrors, 1 wardrobe, 1 water cooler, 1 washstand, 2 marble top tables, 1 wash bowl and pitcher, and 2 spittoons.

A newspaper reporter who interviewed Billings in 1883 described his office thus: "At desks on each side of the librarian were two clerks, and in the opposite corner was Dr. Robert Fletcher, a colaborer with Dr. Billings in library work. Little heaps of pamphlets, periodicals and manuscripts covered the desks, while here and there were piles of books which were at intervals removed by messengers and their places supplied by others.""

The earliest arrangement of books on the shelves is not known. Presumably it was the same as in the catalog of 1865, and later of 1868; that is, there were about 10 classes, and in each class books were arranged alphabetically by author. From about 1871 to the late seventies books were classified and arranged as were the medical publications in the Library of Congress. Billings then developed a classification based on that of the Royal College of Physicians, London. Within each class books were shelved alphabetically by author.

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Unbound journals were shelved according to size, as folio and quarto, in order to use all available space. Within each size they were arranged alphabetically. Bound volumes of journals were arranged by country, then alphabetically within each country.9

Unbound pamphlets were first arranged in one alphabet in a series of boxes ("Woodruff's Patent File Boxes"). Because of the constant insertion of incoming pamphlets and of new boxes at various points in the series, this system took too much time. It was stopped, and thereafter incoming pamphlets were laid in a box until the box was full, the box was replaced by an empty box, the pamphlets of the full box were alphabetized, and the box placed on the shelf. Each box was numbered, and the number was placed beside the title of each pamphlet in the catalog. Volumes of bound pamphlets were shelved chronologically.

Some of the early binding of pamphlets, journals, and reports was done at the Government Printing Office and some by private bookbinders.10 In 1872 Billings decided to try a variety of bindings and adopt one for the Library. He sent 150 volumes to Charles Sutherland, medical purveyor, New York, and asked him to have them bound, most in half turkey dark red, some in full calf, a few in half calf. "The style of binding desired is plain, neat, and strong, without fancy gilt tooling, edges of books speckled," he wrote, "I send this as an experimental lot to learn about styles and prices."" Billings chose half turkey, and some of the volumes of that time still bear that binding somewhat the worse for

wear.

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Billings continued to send journals, pamphlets, and books in need of repair