Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-05
JUST TOO MEAN;
SO THERE, NOW!
LIBRARY GIRLS DON'T LIKE
CIVIL SERVICE
May Have to Take Another ESanlna-
zion 10 Hold Positions Of Assist
ant Librarians Created
Year Ago

Rad fame in the Los Angeles pubic
library has at last brought troupie iol
I,ibrarian Charles r. Lummis. year
ago at the suggestion of MI. bulnil,is i,l
the library board apportioned out lne
title Of assistant" to a dozen youns
,xo,,en in the library who up to that
tinno had been content to be known as
.attendants" This was we'll and goou,
as the civil service commission shoWeo
no desire to call for examinations ol
candidates. ..
During the past ten days. however,
the civil service board has become pc
cuIiarly active in that which pertains
to the public library The outcome VI
n Is that the board has called FOR ex-
an1fnations of candidates to fill all the
positions now held by the assistants;
C'onsternation was rampant when TINS
fact became known at the library yes
terday.
The .'senate," over which Mr.. Lum--
mis- keeps a watchful eye met anu
drew up a petition, which is to be pre-
sented to the civil service board.
To Plead for Attendants
The petition was passed upon by Mr..
I,urnmis and has been held by him for
n slight correction. 1t calls attention
10 the fact that the board waited a
year before it came suddenly to the
conclusion to call for examinations Tor
the positions; that the board knew OF
the creation of the positions as soon
as they were made. Now the senate
asks the civil service board that an ex-
ceution be made and in recognition OF
past efficient service the present oc-
cupants shall not be forced to take
an examination
The board was to have met yester-
day. and had it done so Mr. Lummis
\ a ..1n fI1n nsar .
of his fair proteges. The positions af-
fected are those of assistants in the
departments of accession, cataloguing,
classification. reference, school, fiction,
mail, juvenile, registry, binding and
history material IL the civil service
board is obdurate Miss Charlotte
Casey, Miss Edith M. Wheat, Miss
Margaret B. Melzer, Miss Christine M
Tracey, Miss Katherine M. Hilton, Miss
Laura S. Hilton and Miss Georgia Hor-
gan must answer a list of questions
as to the duties of their positions or
resign.
Duties the Same
When the titles were distributed the
positions and their incumbents re-
manned the same with one or two ex-
ceptions. Things went along, accord
ing to one young library attendant,
lust as if nothing had happened"
Now that the civil service has taken
a hand things are going all wrong.
The library force is at a loss to know
what has come over the civil service
commissioners. Librarian LummiS
does not know, even DR.. G. ]. X. Jones,
director of study and research, has
been unable to search out the solution
of the problem. Possibly one of the
young women has solved the mystery.
Il think some busy-body has been ac-
4
she said. "Give up the title If it doesn' t
mean anything to. prevent the board
from calling the examinations? Never!
Why the girls, or some of them, would
rather take the examinations by far.
They understood from Mr.. LummiS
that he did not think they would be
called upon to take another examina-
tion. They have already taken one,
you know"
Blames Librarian
The civil service board places the
blame on the library. There is a cur
rent opinion among the members that
if Mr.. Lummis wants to tie the library
department up with lot of red tape
he may unite the tangles himself with
out their assistance. They point to
the charter which says that when new
positions are created competitive ex-
aminations shall be held. 1t was an
oversight tndt Iney were not called
sooner. Mr.. Lummis might have called
the attention of the board to the con-
ditions as they have existed.
Mr.. Lummis and the library board, it
is true, they assert, asked that DR..
Jones be given the position of assis-
tant librarian, thus giving him pre-
cedence in rank over the two assis-
tants. However this was impossible.
as the position held by DR.. Jones is
one which deals with the seeking after
knowledge and carries no executive
powers with IL.
At its next meeting the board has
before it the threshing out of all this
trouble.