Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-31
A LIBRARIANS WORK
Consists of More Than Keeping Track
of the Books in His Charge.
VIEWS OF AN EXPERIENCED MAN.
C. A. Hecker Tells What He Saw Of the
Great Louisville Cyclone.
SOME OF THE HEARTRENDING SIGHTS

Mr.. William Bentley, of Allegheny, is
gentleman who has had a remarkable ca
reer. In his younger days, as civil engi-
neer, he served under and was associated
with the late Lord Napier, of Magdala, and
he afterward travelled extensively through
the East. He is linguist and is thoroughly
conversant with the customs and languages
of many peoples. He served in the field
during the Indian mutiny of 1873, includ-
ing the battles of Delhi and Lucknow.
Mr.. Bentley, who has had charge of sew
eral important libraries, was yesterday
asked by a DISPATCH reporter to give his
views on libraries and their management.
He replied as follows: Libraries, accord
ing to authentic records, are OF ancient date,
and as, in the sense of literature implying
an advanced condition OF society, they, to-
gether with their management, form prom
inent feature of discussion, a few facts
drawn from personal experience In the
superintendent of libraries and from per-
sonal observation may prove interesting
and beneficial to those connected with and
interested in the success of Mr.. Carnegie's
gift to Allegheny.
GREATER THAN POLITICS.
"No intelligent citizen, nor any individual
who feels interested in the library, will fail
to understand that there are questions, more
or less of a municipal nature, in wqich its
usefulness is involved, and which, in the
opinion of the generally interested public,
press upon the minds of the citizens of Allie
gheny, and which, in their view, are of
vastly greater Importance than that of the
political side of the question, and ought to
exercise mighty influence among the more
intelligent portion of the Select Council in
settling the question of control, and with the
Library Committee in the matter of its man
agement. After the question OF control has
been satisfactorily settled comes the selection
of librarian, definition of whose compe-
tency was recently given by a men,
Der of Select Council as a man
who could give out books as required
A librarian must be a man of good
education, one who has full sympathy with
books and reading; he ought to have an ac
quaintance with photography, palae-
ography and bibliology. While in such
library as ours these qualifications may not
be considered so imperative as in large
public library, yet, coupled with knowl-
edge of languages and literature, they
would be found to be great acquisition,
and, when combined with an acquaintance
with the theory and practice of library man.
agement, ought to go a long way to establish
fitness for the position. He ought to be
conversant with history, geography and En-
glish literature, and possess some knowl-
edge of literary history, modern Ian
guages, Latin and Greek.
IMPORTANCE OF CATALOGUES.
"No library can be complete without
perfect equipment of catalogues carefully
compiled. There are many methods of COM
piiation, in order to be able to meet the nu-
merous requirements for books OF people
who may be ignorant or uncertain as to
titles, subjects, authors, etc. 1t has been
conceded that the catalogue of the Mercan-
tile Library, Brooklyn, is the most COM
plete. The alphabetical system, under the |
authors, is simple; the subject catalogue |
plan is more complex, but references ought |
to be strictly alphabetical in form, and |
every book ought to be catalogued and its |
title copied from the book ITSELF This is |
very important. Many rules have been laid |
down to secure precision and uniformity; |
these can be had on application to the |
proper quarters. Ladies have been found |
to be very accomplished cataloguers.
GA few words regarding the purchase of |
books: This can be done from circulating |
lists, advertising, at auction sales, consulta-
tion of the list catalogues, from the surplus |
stock of libraries, and library committees |
can procure valuable works on application |
to different scientific bodies and heads of |
departments under the Government.
although a library may possess conf
plete catalogues. it cannot be considered as
approaching anything like perfection if it |
lacks perfect system OF shelf classification. |
As to the supply of books, many systems |
exist, and the most efficient will be found |
on comparison with those in use by other |
similar institutions, and after practice with |
the methods and appliances provided"