Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-20
NEED OF CLERKS
The Inadequate Assistance Provided
for the Librarian Of Congress.
COMPARED WITH OTHER LIBRARIES
A Chat With Mr.. Spofford About
the Great Collection.
THE NEW LID N G

eff were asked who Is the busiest man
I ever knew and the man who accomplish
ed the most, I should say 1t was Mr.. A.
r. Spofford, the librarian of Congress.
Some men make a great show of being
| busy, but somehow they do not seem to
make Roadway in proportion. Mr.. Spofford
is not one of those He does something
all the time"
The speaker was a man who Is familiar
! with Washington affairs and frequent
visitor at the library, To any one who
goes often to that home Of literature and
books the truth of what he said will be
fairly evident. There is no library in the
world with anything like the number of
| volumes which has anything like such
small working force. To add to the labors
connected with it, the. registering of copy
rights is also a part of the duties Of the
| librarian, and it is hard to realize what
an immense amount Of work that RESPONSE
| bility entails unless one has had some per-
sonal reasons for investigating the matter.
| The recent question raised by the officials
of the treasury over the delay on the part
of the librarian in transmitting the pay
accounts of his department and the dis
cussion over the general system and man
agement of the library is likely to bring
forth good fruit, and the chances are, that
at the coming session Of Congress some
suitable provision will be made for the
needs of the library which will give addi-
tional clerical help as well as a more COM
plete organization than it now possesses
The integrity of the librarians accounts
has never been questioned in the slightest,
but the discussion has served to again give
prominence to the tremendous strain under
which the librarian labors. The attention
of Congress has frequently been directed to
the lack Of proper facilities for attending to
the rapidly expanding business of the Con-
gressionai Library, but no attention has
been paid to Mr.. Spofford's entreaties and
he has. therefore, been compelled to con-
tinue in the performance OF an amount ard
variety of labor that should be distributed
among taree or four men.
A Large Force Needed.
The engineers of the War Department
who have had charge of the construct ton
of the new library building have expressed
the opinion that it will be ready for occu-
pancy during the early part Of 1897. AS
they have made pretty close estimate of
the earlier stages of its erection, there is
good reason to think that they are not SO
very far off in their guess as to the time
of its completion. Mr.. Spofford is a men,
Der Of the commission having in charge the
construction Of the handsome home for the
Library of Congress. and from the moment
of its first inception he has taken an ac-
tive interest in the work.
1t goes without saying that in a. build
ing the size of the new library clerical
force of the present size would be entirely
inadequate. Mr.. Spofford said to Star re-
porter yesterday that he had. not yet given
that question the attention 1t deserved. but
that in general way it was safe to say
that force five times as great would not
be bit too large.
with the completion Of the new Library
building a number of important questions
will have to be settled with reference to
the disposition of the books in the main
library as well as in the law library, which
now has its home in the lower part of the
Capitol. Speaking on this subject, Libra
AT the last session of Congress this gen.
eral subject was talked over at some
length. but no definite conclusion was
reached. My own suggestion. which, Of
course. carries with 1t no weight beyond
what comes from my long experience in
the library. Is to leave In the main or
central library in the Capitol a good legis-
lative working library of about 10000 vol
umes for the use of Congress alone. This
would be of the greatest assistance to
Senators and Representatives, and the
room would be an excellent working place
for members who are engaged in compiling
materials for speeches reports-a con-
venience that Is not at their disposal now
except in the case of those who are for
tunate enough to be chairmen of commit
tees.
Place for the Archives.
The central library building could easily
accommodate 10000 volumes, and this
would leave the two wings to be used
in any way that Congress might see fit.
There is, of course, great need for more
committee rooms, and the wings would
make room for about twenty, ten for the
Senate and ten for the House. Or they
could be arranged to store the valuable
archives of Congress, which are now ac-
commodated in very unsatisfactory man
ner. and in rooms that are lined with wood,
and consequently anything but f1reproof.
If they were placed in these two wings
they could be arranged In proper order on
these iron shelves, and in such way that
1t would be possible to get, at a moments
notice. any manuscript document of Con-
gres back to the time of Henry Clay, a
thing that is almost impossible at present.
The general public should not be allowed
into this library them and the room would
not be used all the time, as 1t is now, by
people vino go tramping through for the
purpose of getting view of the city from
the west portico. In addition to having all
the legislative works of reference, this
library should have a copy of every work
authors. This would be made possible by
our copyright system, which secures du-
plicate volumes of every work that is
registered.
law library or keeping it here. that is
! matter for Congress to determine, ard
would depend largely on the convenience
of Congress and the Supreme Court The
ultimate plan of having a separate build
ing for the Supreme Court the square
| opposite the new Library building would
probably have its effect in determining
the best place for the law library, but I
doubt whether it will ever be moved SO
long as the Supreme Court is housed in the
Capitol.
Bureau of Copyright.
with reference to the matter of the re-
organization of the library force, when we
go into the new building, or even before, 1
can Only repeat the suggestion I have al
ready made for the appointment of a sepa-
rate bureau of copyright, with a bonded
officer at its head. who would have charge
Of the matter of records and certificates.
This work, which now devolves upon our
force, is one of immense detail. A year ago
Congress gave US additional help to bring
up the arrears of copyright work, SO that
now certificates are only two weeks behind
instead of several months. But even that
addition is not sufficient, as one can see
when he considers the vast amount of in
dexing work that must be done. This is
largely voluntary work on my part, as it
is my ambition to have a triple index, by
authors, by subjects and by publishers.
There will be a positive and pressing
need for an increase of the clerical force
l yI.o-, sk~ H..