Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-06-08
SHOWS THERE is DEMAND
FOR BOOKS OF REFERENCE

LOS ANGELES, June 5.-[Editol
Herald: Miss Blandy i'm each article
that she contributes to the papers
pathetically but unconsciously adver-
tises her astonishing ignorance OF the
functions of a public library. Undel
article four of the amazing contribu'
tion to The Herald's Letter Box, June
she laments the "extravagance OF the
reference department.
The principal of the reference de-
partment is proud and glad to acknowl,
edge the value of the books purchased
for that department. Thousands Of
dollars have been expended in building
up that section of the library, and thou
sands more will be spent on the very
divisions mentioned by Miss Blandy
The expensive books of plates" thai
she laments cover such subjects as
architecture, sculpture, painting. furni-
ture, oriental carpets, china, silver, etc
We are not buying cheap prints at II
cents each; We are buying Braun
Clement photographs for SO to SIS each
Berlin photographers at an equal cost
We are purchasing Medici prints, as The
color reproduction is essential in any
library where the demand for the ''im-
age of the book" is so constant.
The Japanese prints are above re-
proach. A visitor from the east who
knows prints, and to whom japanese
art is something more than decorated
paper from a tea chest, declares oul
little collection Of twenty-five prints is
move in the right direction; and hao
we not secured them they would have
graced an eastern library. These prints
have been examined by dozens of oui
cultured taxpayers, and they have beer
unanimous in their approval of this ac'
QUESTION.
We are striving to build in our sec
ton of the country an architecture
domestic and public, in harmony will
our environment, and are succeeding
as the criticisms of eastern architects
will bear witness. Surely our archi'
tects and students are entitled to Eek
pensiye books of plates" with working
drawings, plans, elevations. details, etc
They demand them, and we are glaC
that the demand is great enough t.
warrant the purchase. We are far re-
moved from the old eastern centers o.
culture, with their art museums con
tanning originals or expensive and accu
rate copies; and yet every large public
| library, even in those centers, makes
an effort to secure collections of flint
photographs. Why should we not Sc
aside a certain amount of our Lawful
proportion for reference purposes, for {
few excellent photographs and colo
reproductions? The sets of water colol
drawings to which Miss Blandy refer:
are the beginning of a complete series
of pictures representing our California
| flora, and If Miss Blandy were an at
tendant in the reference room during
the flower season she would realize how
much these ''fads" are in demand.
l think from the time that this wai
organized as public library. in 1889
aII N.Y. vii nc 1nO1xad fOrVVq r
to the time when it would be possible
to have a section devoted to California
and to include in this collection certi
fled copies of manuscripts, and origina
manuscripts If possible, bearing on ou
state. The students who use the ref
| erence room are not satisfied with Hit
| tell and Bancroft, but urge their RICH
to have access to at least copies o
original sources. They pay taxes, ant
trip east, or north to the Bancroft
collection is not always convenient.
wonder what some of our eastern libra
rians would have thought or said ha
| they known that we had an opportunit
| to secure the original manuscript o
| the Mercury Case" and had allowed |
/ to pass into the Ayers collection, o
| the Bancroft. We are 6evoutly thank
| full that we can supply our readers will
some of the really essential things bear
iIlB OH lib WIN pAA III
dams costs $4,000, and we pay at the rat'
of $500 per year. and in the end will b.
in possession of what all scholars de
clare to be the most complata and valu
able thing ever published on IndiaI
tribes. Every important public librar.
| in America has bought 1t.
If hundreds of our taxpayers did no
! have access to just such books as Mis-
Blandy regards as an extravaganza,
am afraid that they would not be a.
meek as she seems to regard the aver
age reader
regard the average reader not at al
in the light that Miss Blandy does; ant
fifteen years of experience have laugh
me few things regarding the Los An
geles public library patron; and thu
fine books in the reference room have
in the majority of cases, been secured
after demands on the part of the av
erage reader-and still the cry is More
morei Our work requires these books!
Surely in a yearly circulation of 704.'
900 some one has received the book HI
wanted? 1t is not the contented patror
we hear from, but the discontinued
The papers have not been burdenee
with letters of gratitude from the 7O4,-
600 people. Possibly, however, some OF
them were grateful.
The statement that we SHOULD have
more than one copy of a book" recall.
the case of the woman who had asked
dozen times for Ramona" and "dio
not see why the library did not have
more than one copy of this classic
she was somewhat disconnected wher
told that the library had forty-siS
copies. 1t has now ordered fifteen more
When the mother of the school cir
comes in for Myers History of Greece,
she is disappointed at not finding 1t IN
Does she realize that every mother OF
each member of that class has beer
ND for this same book? When some
passing company, playing Ghosts OF
''Mona Wanna" comes to town, every
one of the prospective audience is
seized with an immediate desire &c
brush up on Ibsen and Maeterlinck;
and where are the half dozen copies
of these plays before the hundred peo-
Pile who wish one copy?
1t might be a lesson to the average
complainant could he pass an hour be-
hind the fiction desk and see the same
ness of the lists-"The Man from Brod-
neys,'' Little Brown jug, )" 1.-THE Spell
1.-THE SPELL" Little Brown jug, The
Man from. Brodneys"; Little Brown
Jug" 1.-THE Man from Brodneys, ano
''vrhe SPELL" form the only variation
Can the intelligent public not see that
when 1.-THE Little Brown jug IS on
fifty lists in a day, and the library mas
but twenty copies, at the very best
thirty people are going to be disap-
pointed? And yet who OF the thinking
nubIic would advise the purchase OF
more than twenty copies of book OF
this class How many times a day
does some one ask for 1.-THE Trail OF
the Lonesome Pine" and is told it is
not in? And yet there are fifty copies