The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-09-06
OPEN-sHELF LIBRARY SYSTEM

| Its Success in the Free Circulating Ii
braries of New York.
"The only proper way to manage a
circulating library so as to avoid all
unnecessary delay and friction in the
bringing together of book and reader, is
to run it upon the open-shelf system, -
said j. Norris Wing, the librarian of the
i New York free circulating library, in
answer to a query as to how he liked
| the change that had been made in the
| library under his charge. The New
York free circulating library in round
numbers has 1860 volumes on its
| shelves, and their total circulation for
the last library year was 1,241,00 1t
operates eleven branches, distributed
over the territory Of Manhattan. They
are situated as follows: 40 Bond street,
1856 Second avenue, 251 West Thirteenth
street, 1870 West Twenty third street.
215 East Thirty-fourth street, 226 West
Forty-second street, 261 West sixty
ninth street, 1928 Second avenue, FOG
West One Hundredth street, IS West
One Hundredth and Twenty-hfth street
and the new branch opened six weeks
ago at % East Broadway
From 1880, when the first branch was
opened, up to about eighteen months
ago the public was excluded from the
places where the books were kept, and
when the proposition was made to give
the readers free access to all books in
the library many OF the attendants
shook their heads The experiment was
tried, however first in one and then in
another branch, and the innovation has
proved so satisfactory that to-day the
open shelf system Is in operation in eve
ry one of them. The difficulties that
had to be overcome We're many, lack Of
space and suitable shelf arrangements
being the most formidable ones, but the
arrangements are now such that the
system can be said to have demonstra-
ted its superiority over all other library
systems. 1t simply means that any
member Of the library, If he wishes to
borrow book. goes directly TO the pro-
per shelf, makes his own selection, has
it charged to him and goes away.
1t will be seen at a glance that this
method offers great many advantages
to the reader. There is no longer any
need for his spending his time in look
ing over the catalogue for the proper
number of the book he wants. no more
filing out call slips, and no waiting till
the librarian returns after a weary
search to inform him that the book is
-, a,.ly cd MI iy7f
showing what sort of books they con-
tain, and the subdivisions hold the
volumes in alphabetical order of their
authors. One walks to the shelf, sees
at a glance whether the book Is there or
not and if necessary chooses something
else. The saving of time IN itself is
quite welcome to the average reader,
but II is by no means the greatest BEN
eft he derives from the system 1t al
lows him to handle books, look at them,
browse in them and judge for himself
whether he would care to read GER
tain book. To many people it Is moth
ing short of a revelation that other
books have been written besides popu-
lar novels, and many girl has learned
to read history literature and scienti-S
fc works who came to the library to
get the novels by THE Duchess. and
would never have asked for anything
else
To the librarians also the open-shelf
system has been a boon in more than
one way.It has saved them great deal
of physical fatigue, the running about
in looking for parts of the building to
the delivery DESK and the reduction in
the amount Of purely physical labor
has made them more alert to exercise
their influence in another direction.
They now come into close personal con-
tact with the readers, they are being
constantly asked whether they would
one book or another, and
the irritation consequent upon crowds
outside the railing is gone.
One of the women librarians said:
Nov we are fresh when our days
work is done. Moreover, we know that
we can and do help the people who use
the library to an extent not one of us
thought possible under the old system.
Before we mostly only carried books;
now we advise about books"
There are, however, two serious draw
backs that so with the open shelf sys-
TEN. First of all, the books suffer |
much more. They are handled by many |
hands. This tells, and the wear and |
tear is much greater than under the
Did system.
The second difficulty lies in the SEEM |
ingly utter impossibility of preventing |
the stealing of books. 1t seems to be |
almost to be expected that books will |
De stolen from any library; and the OPP |