Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-29

MI H., today. To this organiza-
A Vii ton more than to any other
s.1E is due the present state OF
uniformity Of library work in
the United States and Canada. 1t has
done much to bring about a spirit of
cooperation among Libraries. and more
to establish uniform methods of cata-
loguing. This latter matter, chiefly
will occupy the attention of the asso-
citation at the present meeting.
1t is estimated that there are 10000
libraries In the United States and Can
ada, and that the books on their shelves
aggregate more than 60,000,000 volumes
Some idea of the number Of libraries
i'm the United States which attempt to
make any of their collections anything
like complete may be gathered from
the fact that about 5000 of them have
been designated as repositories for pub
lie documents issued by the United
States government. The library as an
adjunct to universal education has be-
come a recognized essential.
Library work has been reduced to a
science. broadly speaking, and one may
now study the librarians profession
much as he would study law or medi-
cine-only he learns to do by doing tc
a greater extent than in either of the
latter two. There are perhaps 25,00C
young men and women In the United
states who are preparing for library
work, and if the number of libraries
multiply In the next twenty years as
in the past two decades. there will be
a great demand for competent workers
Not only has there been remarkable
increase in the number of libraries, but
also in the size and Importance of those
already in existence.
OF course, the first essential to sue
cessful library endeavor is a catalogue
Of it's contents which will enable the
patron to locate any book therein by
subject, author or title. The pertec-
ton of such a catalogue has called fol
the best thought of the library world
and the American Library association
has adopted n code of rules for cata-
loguing, which represents the combined
wisdom Of its membership to date The
cooperation in catalogutng has beer
extended to British libraries as well
and an Anglo-American agreement or
rules has been reached. The rules
agreed to have been printed, and now
form the basis of catalogue work II
the United States. Canada and Great
Britain. These rules are not complete
dealing only with the. questions relat-
ing to titles and authors in the cata-
logue. The subject next to be handled
will be the preparation and printing
Of the list of subject headings.
The most prodigious task of index
ing now being carried forward in the
United States is that covering the
statutes at large of the United States
There are $4,000 pages of closely
printed matter in the volume contain
ing the statutes, and to make every
proposition in them readily accessible
for reference is huge task. Congress
legislates IN something of a haphazard
way, using different language at diff
ferent times to express the same mean
ing, and this gives rise to numerous
conflicts and inconsistencies, and to i'm
piled repeats and amendments, all OF
which make indexing a very difficult
job. Although the work has been car
ried on for a good while, there IS yet
much to be done. Up to the close OF
the last fiscal year only the acts passed
since 1873 had been indexed, but even
to index them required over a hun
dred thousand cards
The bureau Of standards has made
itself felt in the library world through
it's tests OF cloth for bookbinding. II
has laid down specifications for all
cloth that shall be used in the binding
of public documents, and the govern
ment buys no cloth that does not come
UP to the standard set by these tests
The specifications are obtainable by
any person or library desiring them,
and through this standard it is ex-
pected that much loss due to defective
binding material will be prevented.
Library methods are gradually per
meating the business world, the card
index being an example. But caro-
index without a competent indexer Is
a delusion and a snare after it grows
to large proportions, so the most pro-
gressive business establishments are
taking advantage of American Ii
brary association rules, so far as 1t is
possible to do so, and some of the
young men trained for library work
find better salaries in the business
field than in library circles. Business
prophets see the day when every up-to-
date establishment will have its trained
librarian for keeping track of every
transaction.
The first library in the world was
that established by King Osymandys
king of Egypt, in the twelfth dynasty
It was located in a portion of the king
palace, and above the entrance was
the striking phrase, THE Healing OF
the Soul" The first American library
ever established was at jamestown, di-
rectly after the settlement there. But
1t was so small that most historians
9 ~ TNIaPa m the