The morning call., 1891-10-15
LIBRARIANS AND LIBRARIES.

The visit Of the Librarians to the city
should be regarded as a matter of general
congratulation. They are remarkable
| body of men, stored with a knowledge which
few have an opportunity of acquiring and
polished by constant friction with the high
est products of the human mind 1t has
been said that no lawyer can claim to know
the law the most learned among them only
know where it is to be found. Ii that is
true, these librarians, who know where to
look for the latest and wisest expressions of
human thoughtin every department of learn
! ing, may, perhaps, compare to advantage
with the leaders of science and art and
| letters
1t is pleasing to contemplate the plans
which those book men are deYising Mr..
| Poole, the Librarian of the NeWberry
| Library at Chicago, cherishes ambitions
| which are dazzling. Mr.. Newberry, mer-
| chant of Chicago, died, leaving property
then worth S3O0O000, to found scientific
| library. Since his death the property has
been increasing in value and now represents
I very much more money than the teStator
left A fine building is being erected and a
nucleus of some $4,000 volumes has been
secured to start the library. Mr.. Poole eX-
poets that with its magnificent income it
will presently surpass the library OF the
British Museum and take rank with the
! Nat onal Library of Paris, which contains
! 900 900 volumes. 1t is to be exclusively a
| scientific library and no books will be given
! out Ample accommodations will be afford
! ed for students, who Will have access in
! hospitabe rooms to every reference book Of
| value that has been published in the world.
| In Paris and London the great libraries are
] to ofc Nv
| leading writer's, and in New York men
| whose names are household words are con-
| stautly seen in the Astor Library, Mr.,
! Poole proposes to establish a similar resort
| for the studious in Chicago. If he succeeds
it will be worth while living in Chicago,
/ merely TO enjoy the privilege Of visiting such
! a repository of letters and science.
| Cur Mr.. Sutro INDUCES equally sanguine
/ hopes for his library. 1t already contains
/ some 100000 volumes, and is especially rich
! in ancient manuscripts and works of the
middle ages and the renaissance. Mr.. Su-
tro was fortunate enough to be able to pick
up at auction a number of rare books whose
value consists chiefly in their scarcity and
| their antiquity. What provision is to be
made for the acquisition of new books as
they appear from year to year the public
| are not informed. A collection of manu-
scripts and of ancient tones is always in
| terestiug as memorial of past ages; but a
| library TO be of abiding value must be
! teacher and old manuscripts and forgotten
| histories teach little. determination which
| Mr.. Sutro has laid affords an opportunity
! for some of our millionaIreS to win imper-
isnable fame by endowing his COLLECTION with
! an income which would enable il to keep
| pace with tie swelling tile If publication.
1t would be an eXaggeraton to say that
| old books are of no more use than old Scien-
| tlic theories. Few scholars would be will
| ing to part with Homer OF Thueydiles, and
yet the really valuable books which have
! come down to Us from the ancients, or which
| appeared in print before the middle Of the
| seventeenth century, can be contained in a
very small library. In science works which
! antedate Sir Isaac Newton and hepler are
! quite obsolete; and even in pure letters, if
we make few exceptions il favor of Dante
! and CerYantes ana Shakespeare and the
! writer's OF the reign of Louis XIV, few
! works can be named which repay the reader
| as well as many works of the present day.
| It is said that a scholar should read every
| thing, bat it is hard to say how his kaowl-
| edge or his usefulness can be increased by
| the study of works WHICH inculcate obsolete
| doctrines, or which contain thoughts that
have been much better expressed in later
| publications.
| The modern library should be rs regularly
| pruned as swelled. Its shelves should be
| weeded at fixed intervals. not only in order
! to make room for new books. but to get rid
! of books whose usefulness has ceased. But
its value will mainly depend on its capacity
to purchase all that is really worthy OF
study in current literature. Without lib
eral income no modern library can fulfill its
/ OurDOse