The Portland daily press., 1876-10-05
FOR PRESIDENT,
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.
A librarians Work.

MOSC men nave tno impression that the pO-
sition OF librarian is one of the easiest in the
world, in fact sinecure; and people of liter
ary tastes are apt 10 regard it as delightful
office permitting the occupant TO read books
all day and draw good salary for taking his
pleasure. To them it has the same attrac-
tions that salesman in a candy shop has to
the small boy, that place in the Custom
House has to the practical politician" In
quiry of any librarian or examination of his
work will convince the inquirer that the po-
sition is one of the most laborious and exact
ing which man can FILL Prof. John Fiske,
librarian of Harvard college, has demonstrated
this to the world in paper published in the
current number of the atlantic Monthly, en-
titled ga Librarians Work."
Prof. F;ske says he is frequently congratu-
lated on his good fortune in holding position
that "being virtually sinecure Office must
leave so much leisure for private study and
work Off literary sort" 1t has astonished
those who offer such congratulations to learn
that the library affords enough work to en-
ploy his own time as well as that of
twenty assistants. The work requires great
judgment and discrimination, high scientific
and literary training, and great deal of slow,
plodding research. A great library, he says,
is an excellent place for study and reflection
for everybody except the librarian, whose
position is tantalizing one. In the midst of
the great ocean of books it is "water, water
everywhere, and not drop to drink" He
seldom has leisure to con the books which he
handles.
The great work of a library and its constant
problem is the endless task of cataloguing.
1t is work that is never finished, for no
sooner is one volume entered than another
received has first to be compared with the
invoice, then to be examined to see If it is
perfect, that is if the pages are properly num-
bered and bound, then must be charged to its
proper fund, then assigned to its alcove and
shelf A shelf catalogue has then to be pre-
pared, in order to determine whether each
shelf has its proper complement of volumes.
and whether, at the end of the year, all the
books are in their places. Aft er this the real
work of cataloguing begins.
The catalogue has long been matter of
difficulty with librarians. No sooner is cat
alogue printed than supplement, embracing
the accessions, is called for; and by the time
the supplement is ready for use several hun
dred new volumes have come in, the very
ones in all likelihood which the inquirer
wishes to consult Even if only an annual
supplement be printed the catalogue will be-
come cumbersome in a few years, requiring
the seeker after knowledge to search through
half dozen alphabets. So the printed cata-
logue has gone into discredit. At Harvard
the card system has taken its place. In this
the titles of books are written on separate
cards, and the cards arranged in little draw
ers so that one may by opening the drawers
and fitting the cards easily find the title for
which he is seeking. Three cards at least are
necessary for each book. The first card is
called the "long card" in which the volume
is entered under the authors name with
great minuteness, mere initials no. being sut-
fcient. If for example the cataloguer takes
up volume by W. Stanley Jevons. he has to
consult biographical dictionaries, university
catalogues and other books of reference until
he discovers what name the s'W'' represents.
Frequently the title page leaves it doubtful
whether the name upon it is author or editor;
sometimes the work is anonymous or the
name fictitious. Then size of the volume,
imprint, &C., are mentioned, illustrations are
described in general terms, and fund, shelf
mark and price are recorded. This finishes
the ''long card," but the "red" and "bue''
cards, or the alphabetical and subject cata-
logues, have to be prepared. The subject
catalogue is work OF great difficulty, and
each entry must pass under the eye of the Ii
brarian, for the classification of the subject
matter of a book is a work of difficulty. The
title is not always safe index, and to assign
the title to its proper position requires
thorough knowledge of the system of classifi-
cation, of the reasons philosophical and prac-
tical which determine the assignment, that is
only possessed by the author of the system.
Then old manuscripts, early printed books
without title pages, and volumes in Oriental
languages, must be brought before the libra
riaD, who must be an accomplished lnguist.
This is some OF the work of librarian. but
not all, as set forth by Frof. Fiske. After
reading his paper the men who will envy IL
brarian must be few.