Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-30

| the American Library Association is now
| In session at Narragansett Pier, with dele
gates from every city in the UniteG States
| that boasts of large circulating or refer
ence book collection. Many problems are
/ being discussed Of Importance chiefly to
| the administrators of the libraries, but
| some of the questions under debate are in
| teresting well 10 the patrons of the cir
| culating libraries. One of these relates to
| the quality of the materials of which books
| are made. An effort has been systematical-
ly pushed for several years to improve the
physical book quality, owing to the great
| demand upon the shelves. A committee on
| bookbindng is annually appointed to for
| ward this work This year the committee
| consists of George F. Bowe-man. librarian
| of the Washington Public Library, chair
man; w. F. Cutter and Arthur L. Bailey.
! Mr.. Bowerman presents the report to the
| Narraga nsett Pier meeting In the course
| of Ii the committee says:
| ut is a matter of common observation
| that publishers book papers and bindings
/ Gin most books more accurately called cas-
| ings) are steadily growing poorer; also,
| partly result of this. that with in
| creases in circulation bookbnding bills
| are steadily consuming disproportionately
larger shares of annual appropriations. This
! is partly due to the fact that the first re-
| binding of books in active demand is often
| not effective and partly due to the fact
| that feathers most used on periodicals and
| OF her reference books are SO poor as often
! to require renewal. The question, there
| fore. is one of great moment to all types
| of Libraries from the point of view or eco
| nomical administration.
Leather and Paper.
| IN the case of paper and original bind
legs we must now take what the publish
| ers give us. With American fiction, Juve-
| niles and illustrated books 1t is matter
of common knowledge that they are usually
| bad. Book cloths offer an Improvement
over papers. especially where buckram is
| used, but are still not suited to library use
| Most American feathers, except some 10Y
| no means alp moroccos, are likewise py
| common observation known to be short
| lived 1t Is certain that hundreds of dol
| lars are being wasted by libraries, always
| short of funds by using feathers mat VIII
| have to be replaced in ten or fifteen years
| Abroad efforts for Improvement in these
| matters have been made through Ihe
| agency of the imperial government IN Ger,
| many, which conducted elaborate ph9slcdi
| and chemical tests of paper and in Eng
| land by committees of the Society OF Arts
| which have investigated both paper am
| leather Our own federal government,
| through its Department of Agriculture, mas
| established a leather and paper laboratory
| III the bureau of chemistry. The purpose
| of the work Is nothing less than that Oh
| establishing standards for leather and pa
| per When these are established and the
| leather and paper laboratory Is apie al
|
! of leather which IT Is proposed TO use LOT
| binding and paper which 1t Is proposed 10
use for catalogues, reports ana punetiiiS,
| for example, libraries Will nave piaceu III
| their hands an effective means OF enlorc-
| inc these standards on those who cater 10
| them
| Public Documents of Poor Quality.
| .erhs publications of the United States
| Government are notable as possessing nearly
! al; Of the bad features found in trade pup
| nca tons These include the use OF glazeo
| paper. heavily loaded with clay. hight quar-
| ity of book cloth, case work ana sheep
| bindings that soon crumble into Gust VI
course. the first effort IN inns leaoa,,
| he directed to overcoming the conservatism
of bureau chiefs and to securing iegisla-
ton that will make possible the use oa .ie
| best materials for the preserValioh u ,..ie
| nrintad records of the government Little
| imnrovement perhaps can be expected III
! the production of works that are ephemerdI'
| and are SO regarded by their pupilsne.s'
| until the permanent records or the govern
vent are issued In permanent form
"When the government itself invariably
uses good paper, leather, ciotn ana ouch-
| ram, the force of example VIII 40 SONG
thing to improve commercial work. ~,
| however an appeal can be mace 10 inc
| self-interest of tanners and ieather oeatels.
| n may be possible for librarians 10 ehect
soma Improvement even before the govern
| nent standards are established ana pup-
| ushed If librarians generally VIII system
eticaIly include clause in blndlng con-
tracts that leather used shall come UP 70
Ne society of Arts standards, the library
binding business is of sufficient Importance
TO make American tanners ana ieather insr
chants take notice. Leather SO suaiah'eS Gu
may be ordered in New York or can pc
| iynnorted Of course, librarians must ex-
meet to pay for it, but 1t Is worth the OIL
| ference. ,,or,,o,,s s,ste,,attc
effort Ia less easily possible or effective
| The Importation of English editions is one
means of making the American publishers
| heed our demands Where there are coLa-
netting editions of non-copyrighted WORKS
| the systematic choosing OF editions having
| good paper is another means just what
| can be done in this direction 0, securing
better paper and better original bindings
! will be best shown by report OF our ne
| gotiations with the publishers
Comparative Qualities of Publishers
Bindings.
IAN attempt has been made by the COM
mittee to get statistics showing the relative
wearing qualities of books of different pub
fishers Although nineteen libraries sent
| statistics, yet the results do not, In the
opinion of the committee, indicate any
| thing of great value. Several OF the largest
| libraries were unable to send statistics, ana
| the statistics which were sent were not
| sufficient TO make large number or vol
umes recorded for any one publisher. In
| order to make any adequate comparison,
circulation of at least 500 volumes of
| publisher should be obtained. The high
| est number received In the experiment of
| the committee was 362. and the number
| of volumes for most publishers fell be-
| low 150.
| In view of the fact that many of the
publishers express a willingness to issue
their publications in bindings suitable for
| library use, 1t does not at present seem
wise to publish list showing the rela-
| tive rank of the publishers graded ac-
cording to the wearing qualities OF their
books 1t is sufficient at this time to re-
port that the statistics collected indi-
| cate that the books of eighteen of the
leading publishers are sent. to the binder
after circulating an average of from 1871
to 1906 times.
Negotiations for Better Publishers
Bindings.
IAN effort has been made both by corre-
spondence and by personal interviews to
induce the leading publishers to issue Ac-
tx{oy and t,.yeufia works In af1ttfona hon n