The evening times., 1895-12-21
CARE OF THE DOCUMENTS
Report Of the New Officer Under
the Public Printer.
VALUED PAPERS ON FILE
Mr.. Crandall Explains His Method of
Preserving Important Documents of
the Executive DeIar artments-Care-
ful Classification Gives Means Of
Ready Reference.

The appointment y a superintendent OF
documents was one of%be new duties i'm.
posed upon the Public Printer by the act
OF January IL, 1895.
This OFFICER was to receive and care for
all surplus public documents in the posses
sion of Departments and offices; to as
sort and catalogue them, to supervis their
distribution and sale to catalogue and
index monthly and ANNUALLY all documents
published; in fine. ii >fehder accessible TO
librarians and the rnIblic generally the
VAST STORE OF goyernfNent publications.
With characteristics foresight MFR. Bens-
dict appointed TO the position Mr.. F. A.
Crandall OF Buffalo, " hose unbounded
energy in bringing order out OF chaos is
attested by the interesting report he sub
mitted as supplement to the report of
the Public Printer. The report, in part is
given below: $40
The provisions Of the new printing law.
directing that the Accommodations Of public
documents in the several Executive De-
partemDts be turned over to the custody
OF superintendent of documents, would
ne meaningless unless an Improvement In
tne netnOn OF storing and arranging such
accumulations was intended to be made.
For various reasons, mainly. suppose. be-
yond The control OF the Officers in charge.
been SO stored that they were inacces-
sible for use, distribution or sale, and
were gong 10 decay because OF dampness.
insects, etc. Some new device was
necessity. If anything was TO be gained
by the transfer OF the accumulated docu-
ments.
After some consideration / devised a
sort OF combination of library stacks
and storage bins of which rs have been
built. containing 2,34O bins, each OF which
will hold from 15 10 900 books. according
TO the size OF the volumes, giving room for
more than S0O.OOO documents at cost
only about fifth as great as that or shelving
or equal capacity. These answer perfectly
the purpose of classified storage for which
they were designed. But they cover great
area, and to ma ke their contents immediately
and surely available a key was needed
This was provided in Il library exclusively
or public documents, to contain one copy
OF every publication of the government of
which any duplicates were in my possession
When this library has been prcLerly class
iried and catalogued. its shelves will unlock
the treasures or the public documents and
make all their contents Immediately and
practically available for The uses of the
governcment ard the public at large.
EASY SOLUTION FOUND.
This seems a simple and easy solution
of the document problem. That il is. how
ever. not quite so simple as il seems. NAV
perhaps be Inferred from the fact that it
has not sooner been adopted. As n matter
OF fact, 1t involves an enormous amount OF
labor. and II needs TO be skilled labor.
Correct cataloguing OF publications is
work recurring high degree of skill and
accuracy, and the cataloguing OF public
documents is the toughest problem that
catalOguers nave TO encounter. Many
have tackled ii. scme more successfully
than Others, but itisan open question whether
an absolutely successful effort at a gen
eral catalogue OF public documents has
vet been made, even on a small scale.
lille the making OF catalogues and the
creation or complete document library
tions intrusted TO this OFFICE, yet the dis
uibution of the public documents 10 the
public libraries of the country, where they
are made available for the uses OF all citi-
Zens, Is OF hardly less value and RESPONSE
bility. The list of designated depository
libraries nomiDally consists of one des.g-
mated by each Represcntative in Congress.
one named by each Senator. one specially
designated by statute 1.-THE Anrioua rian So
ciety of Worcester. Nass.b and the Off
ciai libraries al each. state and Territorial
capital To these have been added the IL
braries Of each of the eight executive de
academics. Tf all the desirnatiops ION "SeH weqs
fun the total would he oo7. but so many of
the Congressional districts have remained
nnsuDplied through thc failure OF their
Representatives IL make proper designa
ton that the total has stood at about 42O.
The list as il stands aIprcsent numbers 4l9.
1T has been held That the Intention OF
the law was that a library once designated
as a depository should remain on the list
failure To care for the books and make
them available for public use or persistent
refusal TO acknowledge the receipt OF the
books sent. The reason fer this continu-
ance of the libraries on the list is Cbvious.
In no other way cCslh sets OF the public
documents be accumulated. If the designa-
tons were to be changed whenever new
came in. many libraries
would have complrativcly useless fragments
OF the document set and no complete col
lections would exist anywhere.
BETTER THAN NO BOOK
I'm pinch public documents are better
than no books, though a library altogether
made up OF them cannot be considered eX-
hilaratiDg literary fare for school children.
It is a pity that these school libraries which
have small facilities for caring for books
and small use for those Of a political or sta
tistical character, should be put upon the
same list and compelled TO receive the same
large number OF documents
that are sent TO the great libraries in the
large cities and at the chief universities
There should be a discretion lodged some
where to send To these schools the books
they want, and ask for. and can use. and
not compel them to take those for which
they do not ask. which they cannot use and
for which they cannot even provide proper
shelter and care. / have, in fact, without
any special authority 10 do SO, exercised a
certain discreet ion in this matter by max
ing up supplementary mailing list on
which are placed the names OF certain