The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-28

will begin Its annual conferences a.
Breton Woods, New Hampshire, today
To this organisation more than TO any
other IL due the present state OF uni
formity OF library work In the United
States and Canada. 1t has done much
to bring about spirit of co-operatton
among libraries, and more to establish
uniform methods of cataloguing. This
latter matter, chiefly, Will occupy the
attention of the association at the pres
ent meeting.
It Is estimated that there are 10000
Libraries In the United States and Can
ada, and that the books on their shelves
aggregate more than 100000 VOL
umes. Some idea of the number of H.
braries in the United States which at
tempt to make any Of their collections
anything like complete may be gath
cred from the fact that about 5000 OF
them have been designated as deposit
tories for public documents issued by
the United States government. The Ii
brary as an adjunct to universal edu-
cation has become a recognized essen
tial
Library work has been reduced to a
science, broadly speaking. and one
may now study the librarians profess
sion much as he would study law or
medicine--only he learns to do by do
ais " a VabCi C&tCht IMAM ia VAthtA
of the latter two. There are perhaps
$4,000 young men and women in the
United States who are preparing for
library work, and IL the number of IL
braries 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 q
remarkable increase in the number OF
libraries, but also in the size and I'M
r. -. Il
OF course, the first essential to sue
cessful library endeavor is a catalogue
of Its contents which will enable the
patron to locate any book therein by
subject, author or title. The perfec-
ton Of such catalogue has called for
the best thought of the library world.
and the American Library Association
has adopted a code of rules for cata-
loguing, which represents the combined
wisdom of its membership to date. The
cooperation In cataloguing has been
extended to British libraries as well,
and an Anglo-American agreement. on
rules has been reached. The rules
agreed to have been printed. and now
form the basis of catalogue work in
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 print
ed matter in the volumes containing
the statutes, and to make every propo-
sition in them readily accessible for
reference is a 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
implied repeats and amendments. all OF
which make indexlng a very difhcult
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
its 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 nor come
up to the standard set by these tests.
The specifications are obtainable by
any person or library desiring them,
and through this standard 1t is expect
ed 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 a card
index without a competent indexer is a
delusion and snare after 1t grows to
large proportions, so the most progress
sive business establishments are TAX
ing advantage of American Library
Association rules SO far as 1t Is posi-
BILE to do so, and some of the young
men trained for library work find bet
ter salaries in the business field than
in library circles. Business prophets
see the day when every up-to-date es-
tablishment will have its trained H.
brarian 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.
1t was located in a portion OF the
Kings palace, and above the entrance
was the striking phrase, The Healing
of the Soul" The first American IL
brary ever established was at James,
town directly after the settlement
there. But 1t was so small that most
historians fail to notice 1t, giving first
place to the Harvard library, founded
in 1888. with Yale and William and
Mary following in 1900. In more than
a century and a half of existence Har-
ward was able to accumulate only L.
600 volumes. Interest in libraries has
been mainly of recent growth. There
are more than 100000 volumes in the
libraries of the United States and Can
ada. Twenty million volumes would
have been a liberal estimate in 1880.
The major portion OF the interest
that has been brought about is due to
the establishment of the modern IL
brary system, which dates from 1875.
1t was in that year that the American
Library Association was formed and
from its organization dates the begin
ming OF the card index and all the 9TH
ar conVeniences which make the mate
rails of the library readily. accessible
to the ordinary reader or Student.
The first free circulating library In
the United States was founded In 1898
by a Unitarian clergyman, living at
Peterborough, New Hampshire. Since
then there have been several thousand
esta blished. The first attempt to sup
port a circulating library by public
taxation was in New York State. 1t
was provided by the Legislature that
any county or municipality could es-
tablish a library and levy taxes for its
support, but soon 1t was discovered
that the smaller political subdivisions
were not willing to tax themselves for
such purposes and thereafter the state
took direct charge of the matter.
The wonderful range which the mod
ern card catalogue takes is illustrated
by the fact that in the classical ton
which now obtains, there are more than