Evening star., 1899-06-05
LIBRARY CHANGES
Appointments and Promotions An
nounced Today.
Mr.. PUTNAM TALKS At LENGTH
How the Selections Were Deter,
mined Upon.
THOSE ON TION

Mr.. Putnam, librarian of Congress, has
appointed Allen Richards Boyd of Wash
ington stenographer and clerk in the libra
rian's office, at 81 300, and has made the
following promotions in the library force:
Copyright department, w. James Pitner,
$I20 to $500; catalogue department, Hugh
Williams. s120 to 5000; manuscript depart
ment, John c. Fitzpatrick s720 to $500.
The following have been invited to come
into temporary service for three months:
Miss Grace l.. Sargent, Washington, D. c.,
stenographer, copyright department.
Miss Anna X. Heger, Washington, assist
ant in reading room, stenographer
Joseph Schneider assistant librarian of
Georgetown College), assistant in reading
room.
Charles A. Huntington, Washington, at
tendant in reading room.
Miss Bertha e. Hyatt ALBANY N Y as
sistant cataloguer.
Charles Henry Lincoln, University of
Pennsylvania, assistant in manuscript de-
partment
Philip w. Phair assistant librarian and
instructor, Trinity College, Hartford). as
sistant in reading room.
Stelngrimar StefanSSon [Newberry library
Chicago) assistant cataloguer
The Temporary Appointments.
The temporary appointments for three
| months, which the foregoing have been Of
fered, were explained by Mr. Putnam to a
Star reporter today. When Mr. Putnam
came into the library there were existing
eight vacancies.
NO permanent appointments have yet
been made" said Mr.. Putnam. For each
one of the positions person has. however
been selected who may ultimately qualify
IEat person has been invited to come into
the service of the library temporarily on
pay, but with the stipulation that at the
cease unless its continuance, or a regular
appointment, be then arranged for. They
We're among the 32 applicants whose ap-
pilcations have been received since April
upon the form now requisite"
How has the selection been made; by
examination"
NO; an examination may, in ordinary
course. be of service to the library as a
partial test of the qualifications of appli-
csnts for certain class of positions. In
| the present instance no more than two of
| the eight positions We're of the same class
The 32 applicants (whose applications are
IN form) were scattered throughout the
United States. An examination in Wash
| ing alone would have reached but few of
them; and the library has at present no
machinery for local examinations else
where.
| Moreover. the form of application tabu-
| lates very fully the alleged qualifca tions of
the applicant, his education and his expert
| ence. An inspection of the applications made
| clear that for these few positions enough
| persons could be selected of adequate edu-
cation and special training. They do not
| tell all of what needs to be known of any
| applicant, but that cannot be told by a
written examination. The work of any
| given employe in the library is not isola ted,
put is in association with the work of others.
| Its effectiveness will depend not merely
| upon intellectual capacity education and
training, but also the more personal quail
| ties of temperament. Each employe is
| obliged to fit in to machine; this fitness
| can be tested only by experience.
Method of Selection.
THE present vacancies being so few in
| number, and the needs of the service re-
| quiring these TO be filled very speedily we
| have acted upon the presumption of fitness
| created by education. training and library
| experience Off any, stated in the applica-
| tion ard accompanying credentials, and
| personal impression where we had opportu-
| nifty to see the applicant
| The chief of the department in which
| the vacancy exists has been requested to
| furnish a statement of the qualifications in
his judgment requisite for that position.
| Upon the receipt of that statement, which
| is in writing all of the applications, the en-
| tire 323, with all accompanying papers re
lating to the applicants, have been turned
| over to him with instructions to draw off
| a list of the persons whose qualifications
| seem to come within the range of those
| stated by him, and with a further instruc-
| ton to select not less than three and not
| exceeding six names of applicants, which
| appear to him worthy of special considera-
ton.
Il have in the meantime, myself. person
| ally gone over all the papers and drawn off
and mnuted independently the applications
| that l considered worthy of special conSid-
| GRAFTON for each particular vacancy. Upon
receiving the report of the chief of the de-
| partment l have then gone over with him
his list and mine. and agreed upon a single
person for each vacancy, whose Qualihca-
tions shall be especially tested. This test
will be not a written examination, but ac-
tual work in the service of this library.
There are now 124 persons in the library
service, of whom ninety-eight have beer
appointed since July l, 1897. OF these
ninetyeight only twelve appear to have
had previous library training or experience
AS the work on hand Of technical charac-
ter is far beyond the capacity of the force
provided by law, it is obvious that when
vacancies occur in positions where techni-
cal training can be of use, they should be
utilized TO bring into the service of the
| library persons with technical training. Ii
this way alone can the general service bt
| strengthened.
Not that all of the remaining eighty-si,
positions required library training, nor tha
| all of the eighty-SiX incumbents lacked
| serViceable experience. Twenty-Five o
| them had mad some experience In CUISINES:
| or in public office; seventeen others had haC
a general education in some measure ad
| vantageous. But the proportion of eXper
| to ineXpert service in the library is les:
than the pay rolls enttle to; the exper
service is not now sufficient to carry the in
| expert"
| rs the method of selection adopted il
| these eight cases likely to be permanent?'
Il cannot say. 1t seemed the advisabl,
one under these circums tances But in tn,
long run 1t may be found desirable to pre-
face the selection by some sort of an exam
ination which though not final test no.
even a test of positive qualification, ma!
sift the applicants in the first instance ant
reject those who fell below some reason
| able standard Three of the 5000 positions
vacant on the rolls have been filled by pro
motion. This substituted three s120 vacan
cies in their stead.
: "One of the eight poSitions-attendant il
| the reading room, with duties of a custo
dian--to keep order rather than to servt
readers-required simply a man of goot
presence and address, quiet dignity of man
ner, intelligence, integrity, courtesy and pa
tence Another position, that of clerk il
the copyright department, required stem
ography and typewriting. Library expert
| ence or q knowledge of foreign Languages