Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-30
Bids and Inventory


Bids and Inventory
"a system for the safeguarding and
Identification Of articles lost or left in
the library, with form of receipt issued
for Identification. Formerly such arti-
clase had no relation to any system of
any sort.
more systematic attention to COM
petitive bids, contracts and other busi-
ness methods in supplies. Formerly
many items of library purchases were
conducted under contracts which had
expired two and three years before,
and without reference to changes in the
market. That these changes were to
the disadvantage of the library is suf-
ficlently attested by the fact that the
contractors had not called our attention
to the lepses of contracts. The economy
in purchase of books, periodicals, car
penter work, furniture, cards and other
supplies under a more strict insistence
of business methods has run from 5 to
so per cent and probably averages 25
per cent.
"Typewriters have been increased.
1.-THE establishment of a real annual
Inventory of all books, furniture and
other property owned by this library,
and making of annual reports in accord
ance with this inventory.
insurance REDUCED
Production of insurance premiums
from 1924 in 1904 to 5000 in 1905 and
$121 in 1906 This has been made not
only possible, but desirable this year
by the removal to quarters which are
themselves the best insurance.
printing the annual report of this
library within the month after it is
filed instead Of six or seven months
later.
'The making of lists of such books
as this library has in electric engineer
ing, water power, architecture, mining,
chemistry, photography and any other
branches of applied and practical sci
ence, and the exporting Of these lists
by prominent specialists here and else
where to evaluate the books we have
and to recommend the books we should
have in each subdivision Of the refer
ence department, which is consulted by
professional men.
compliance with the requirement of
the city charter as the reports of the
city departments shall annually show
losses, gains and actual assets of each
department. AS set forth in the seven
teenth annual report, former reports
did not state the enormous loss of
books; some of them did not state the
discards; some of them did not mention
the volumes added or the totai con-
y
Bringing the public documents (more
than 10 per cent of the contents of the
library out to daylight and to use and
making them department.
Systematic filing or consultation by
this staff, or by anybody else, of the
great number of library reports and
other documents OF the profession.
more than doubling the direct me-
chanical and service facilities of the
fiction desk, always the most congested
point in the library.
Statistical inquiry into the records of
this and all leading public libraries of
this country as to activity and cost of
circulation per volume, per attendant,
and per capita, salaries to total expendt-
lures, discards purchases, lost volumes,
fiction used, accessions, etc, to total
stock-and other comparative statistics.
These tabulations have been secured
partly by digest or more than a hun
dred printed reports, partly by hundreds
of personal letters to the librarians of
the leading American libraries, asking
specific information.
"Figures are hardly an attractive toy;
but I'm business they are a necessary
tool. 1t would be foolish nowadays Qf
ever It was wise) to conduct any enter
prise, even q library, without knowing
what competitors are doing ana have
done; wherein they have succeeded and
why, why and how they have failed.
Our own record is as useful to be re-
membered with that detail which comes
only Of comparative statistics.
THE appointment Of a bill clerk to
whom every bill received Is referred.