Manual of library economy

Front matter

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ARY ECONOMY

JAMES DUFF BROWN fyxull Vntwttttg |f itog

Preface

This work is an attksapt to provide a text-book of advanced library practice, on more comprehensive lines than anything of the kind yet published in English. There, is no single work on modern library economy which gives a general account of the principal methods which have survived the test of continuous and wide-spread trial, nor one which considers these methods and principles as affected by the rate limitation imposed by the Public Libraries Acts.

Librarianship in Britain has suffered to some extent from the lack of anything in the way of classification of its essential elements, and it differs from most other sciences in having no generally recognised series of established facts to form a basis on which to erect a properly developed science of library economy. Perhaps it is fortunate that British library practice has progressed on freely experimental lines, allowing for improvements and readjustment at any point, as it will thus avoid all risk of becoming stereotyped, or running into grooves which may tend to check the growth of original ideas. The hampering effects of too much uniformity are to be seen in full operation in France and the United States. In the former, a government bureau has ordained that the communal libraries shall be organised according to a narrow and very elementary code of rules, drawn up nearly twenty years ago, in which every detail of library management is

iii

PREFACE.

made the subject of a cut-and-dried ordinance. Naturally, this effectually stifles improvement and produces a monotonous uniformity which rejoices the official mind without, however, attracting or satisfying the public.

In the United States a much higher level of attainment has been reached, but here again the paralysing hand of uniformity has arrested progress after a certain standard of efficiency has become general. American libraries are conducted on lines which closely resemble those of ordinary commercial practice, in which everything is subordinated to the furtherance of profits and economy. Their methods are standardised, and everything is more or less interchangeable, with the result that in America we witness practically the same phenomenon as in conservative France. Where methods are run on codified lines, there is always this danger of everything becoming fixed, and all the advantages arising from adjustability and the power of revision being lost in the unprofitable pursuit of the unalterable. In British libraries most methods have been in a state of flux for fifty years, and there is little immediate danger of any process crystallising into a fixed and unalterable condition. For this state of things we have to thank our freedom from too much State interference, and the comparative absence of commercial syndicates which profess to supply libraries and librarians ready made. The only fixed principle from which British libraries suffer is the rate which may be levied for library purposes, and for this our Government is entirely responsible, having been smitten for once with the French bureaucratic craze for a mediocre uniformity.

This manual does not attempt to record all the conventions and traditions of the older librarianship, nor does it pretend to describe all the ideas and methods of modern librarianship. It endeavours to collect and summarise some of the best and most vital methods which have been

iv preface.

adopted, and to arrange them in such divisions as may tend to give the book a systematic form, and so place the study of library economy on a more consistent and scientific basis than heretofore. For the first time, too, an effort is made to consider questions connected with buildings, finance, books, etc., from the standpoint of the limitation of the Library Eate. This brings out in full relief the crippling influence of the plan of financial restriction placed upon every department of British library work by Parliamentary limitations, and shows the difficulty of further developments and improvements in library equipment and practice, without additional means.

In a text-book such as this, dealing mainly with broad principles, it has not been thought desirable to notice every detail of library routine work, nor to mention every appliance which has been introduced. To do so thoroughly Would extend this manual to many times its present size. Nevertheless, the work gives an adequate view of every department of modern librarianship, and, in addition, provides hundreds of references to periodical and other literature, from which further information may be gathered.

I am deeply indebted to Mr. Thomas Greenwood for encouragement and aid in the preparation of this work. But for his active assistance and sympathy it would never have been published. The publication of works on libraries has at all times been unprofitable, and very few private publishers will undertake the risk of issuing text-books which only sell in very limited numbers.

Many librarians have assisted in the preparation of this manual, by their writings and suggestions, but I may name Messrs. L. S. Jast (Croydon Public Libraries) and Franklin T. Barrett (Fulham Public Libraries) as having been specially helpful in giving valuable aid and advice. They both read the proofs, making many good suggestions in the process, and Mr. Barrett also supplied some of the

PREFACE.

photographs and drawings with which the work is illustrated. To the editors and proprietors of The Library and The Library World I am also indebted for some of the material used in various parts of this manual, and there are others, too numerous for mention, who have given suggestions towards the compilation of the work.

JAMES DUFF BEOWN.

Clerkenwell Public Libbaby,

Finsbdby, London,

VI

Contents

PAGH

Preface iii

List of Illustrations, Foems, etc ix

DIVISION I.— FOUNDATION AND COMMITTEES.