Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-10-27
Fletcher Free Library.
PRESIDENT BUcKHAMs STATEMENT 70 TIL
BOARD OF ALDERMEN.

In responce 10 resolution Of inquiry
into the expenses of the Fletcher Free Libra
~ President Buckham appeared before the
BOARD of Aldermen and made statement
the substance Of which we give below:
The first task to which the Trustees ad-
dressed themselves, was to select the best
library they could buy for their money, re-
gard being had to all classes of readers and
to the permanent as well as the present value
of each book They have placed on the
shelves Gncluding donations) about ten
thousand volumes, a number greater by at
least one-third than the best judges led them
to expect, and as much greater than they
could have got for the money at any other
time within twenty-five years. The quality
of the books as TO edition, binding, earhnesS
of IMPRESSION from plates, etc, VIII bear
comparison with that of other libraries ana
has received high commentator from eX-
perts. Their next study, and an equally I'M
porfant one, was to devise means Tor making
this large amount of valuable reading ayalla-
bic to the greatest possible number OF our
citizens This involved the arrangement
and notice of the library the providing OF
above all the preparation of good catalogue
If such library had no catalogue, or only
list catalogue, probably six thousand out O!
the nine thousand volumes would never be
touched by the great majority OF readers,
and that. not because they would have DO
de,ir. to read them, but because they would
| have no reason for reading them. GAIA
lo.ue Of "A public library should give such
| information as to induce people to read books
Of which they would otherwise know moth
inr. II should also be guide to the very
large number Of readers who know what they
want but do not know where to find 1t. After
Mr.. Everett delivered III Burlington his ora
! tiou OF Washington, there was great de
maud for books containing lntC rmatIon
about the Duke Of Marlborough. The Uni
versiiy Library contained good deal Of
| matter here and there on the subject, but
its catalogue. being mere alphabetical list
| catalogue gave not the slightest cleW 10 any
! of It, good analytical catalogue, that OF
| the Boston Public Library, for instance
would give under the word Marlborough
references to all collections containing either
! brief or more extended biographies OF the
! Duke. boy who wanted to ind something
about James Watt or Daniel Goodyear should
! b, guided 10y the catalogue to all the lnior-
nation the Library contains on these men
| But consider how much labor the prepara-
| tiou Of such "a catalogue involves. Here, for
! instance. is a most interesting and useful
| book entitled " Brief Biographies, 10y sam
/ uel Smiles, containing notices OF thlrty-hNe
| distinguished men. such As Gladstone
! Bright. Dickens, BulWer, Hawthorne etc.
/ \ separate title must 80 into the catalogue
! for each of these thirty-fve names. thus
3. Gladstone, see Smiles, Brief BiogTaphi,s.
! Ii is easy to see how in TINS way the ten
! thousand tides IN the list catalogue viii
swell in the forthcoming analytical catalogue
| to about fifty thousand different entries.
| These extra forty thousand entries. which
/ are costing all tins time and labor, mark not
| only the amount Of time and labor saved to
| the readers-aud saved "a hundred times
! over-but also the enhanced value OF the
| Library. For many purposes library oi ten
! thousand volumes catalo 5ued under nifty thou
! sand titles Is as valuable to the general pub
! lie as "a library of fifty thousand volumes ctta-
! logued alphabetically And tins work is flr
more necessary for popular library, on, let
Us say, in order to make good library popu-
| Jar, than for a library to be used by scholars.
| We shall be greatly mistaken If tn IIuAca-
! ton Of the catalogue does not largely III
/ crease the demand for the better classes Of
| books Mr.. Wiusor of the Boston Library
| has recently stated that the publication of
| their catalogue increased the ratio Of such
reading two hundred per cent over what };
| had been.
The preparation of the catalogue tor gene
| eral use has been only part OF tire htor
| performed by the Librarian and the expert
! Two other catalogues had to be mad, Tor the
use of the Library itself one the " Access
! SION Catalogue III which every book is lu-
tered with It's full title, Its publisher, date of
| publication. size, binding. number Of plates
cost and Of whom purchased, and it, shelf
number tie other the " slelt-Es;, which
enables the Librarian to take ana inventory of
! the books whenever needed without taking 80
single volume from It's place ou tie Shelf
Besides all this there have been the cl.lat-
| ing lascertaIuing by careful inspection that
each volume Is perfect before accepting II
from the Publisher n seller, stamping, la-
| belhng, covering and arranging by subjects
In the alcoves and ou tie shelves much Of
this work has been done by tLc Librarian
and Lis assistants, but the system ms a whole
and the best and quickest way of doing each
particular thing have been brought % us
from the experience of other libraries hy the
expert Miss Ames, whose services the L.
hrarv has had almos! from tie t, inning
The work which Miss Ames has done for Us.
and especially the work Of catalocUin-. Is %
Profession by itself and new profession,
requiring large information on au matters
relating 10 books and libraries. and the NE
most accuracy combined with the greatest
raiidity in the execution OF details. Mis-
Anes s intelligence. experience and skill have
been Of the greatest service . Scyeral
delays have occurred, one from the necessity
Of getting more shelf-room. another from
large accession Of books purchased with the
second gift of the generous founders. And,
on the whole, il may be said that the great
expense incurred III starting the Library has