The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-01

tnx WftQ 8vofy oxu4f upf2ry m tns United States fn such wey es VII that binds them together q one com | posite whole--such is the Idea q Li- brar1an Putnam = Go what the Library | of Congress ought to be and what he ! ls making ft as rapfdiy as well-consid- cred and We1i-dirscted effort can do IL 1 The library is now tue third in sise among the libfariss of the world. tho National Bibhotheque of Pans wNh | three million volumes, ranking first. and the oEs of the British Museum sec
 ond. It Is by odds the largest and most | complete in the Western Hemfsphere, | But with ell this, there is much that ! is yet lacking. Many a publication tn- | dispensabie to completensss in its par ticular line is wanting. The serious student will find many miesng links ! The same Is true of every other library in America. But what one lacks am other possesses. By proper co-opera- ton they may make 1t as If each pos- I sesssd ali. Such is the atm of Mir. Putt nam, and when realized every work ih every library of the country will be available to those engaged In research The ffrst step necessary fo the full realization of this high purpose will be the making of . complete card index of each publication to he found in the | libraries Of tho country. This will cover many million cards, as each book requires an average of five cards to properly index it. with the appropriate cross references. This index will show in what libraries the rArer works may
 be had, and application to any library by serious student will make 1t avaii- able, even if 1t has to come from the
 most distant corner of the country. Of course such an arrangement would re- Quire complete and carefully worked
 out organizatfon, bat with the Library of Congress as the firm nucleus around which such an orkanizntfon could be built. 1t Is safe 10 predict that 1t could
 be made to work well.
 When this movement for the nation alization of the Library Of Congress is realized. America will he ahead of ey- cry other nation In IIbrary matters. Neither the British nor the French li-. braries have ever undertaken, such q far-reaching work. and they are hard- iy 90 constituted as to warrant their doing So in the future. It will mark
 the most important step fin library pro-
 gress yet taken by any nation.
 Already MT. Putnam has piacsd his ideas into partial operation. and with the most signal success The Library of Congress is now supplying at cost to other libraries, extra copies of cards representing books In their own cole iections also, ana offers facilities in its private printing plant for the printing of cards of books in ofher libraries that are not in its own collection. Ii keeps copies of these cards % inform itself and other libraries concerned as to their resources, and thus. with its own cards furnished te them. avoids needless dupiieat18n. and aids In re- ctprocai service. Furthermore. tt has facilities eor relieving other libraries Of accumulated material, not necessary iH their special work, for supplying them with such material as they may need Co compleEe defectlve sets eeeen- fiai to their work. ana for pur~haasna at their instance, publisations z5a1a-i mental to their work, but bey q sl
 meane.
 n addition to all this, the Lara of Congress lends freely to o aer n
 braries and even deposits W enl for long periods such materia ss =hae require in their work, they Eeg.ne Transportation. Even beyond ets fs
 biblio@raphia seEvice--im. tila ss ton of reference lists and al4 specific research--is always at Ge7r service.
 without losing sight of the tt tnealtbrary was founded for r and bk Congress-. and shat ths -A CTS h&vs the arst claims up ii st.' tentiqns, theS librarian is sec nR leI every way to extend the sco An Q usefulness of his work He az sst.u lished a perfect co-operatio bst.geer. the library of. Congress and 'ere 5sa rles of thee various depart lq. bureaus of the government, ..=5 told they have more thar 1 books and pamphlets. Wit
 rendering their individual
 their work has been so merged lna.
 m1a 4s.k At.. . tute as much a single library as If all the .coliections were under one roof. Taken together, the government now has the largest collection of books in the world What has been accom- plished with respect to the government libraries 1t is hoped will be accom- plishsd with respect to all Amsriean libraries.
 The card index system which has been established and the plan of print ing duplicate cards for gratuitous .sup- ply to the various g9yernment ubra- ries, and at cost to other aibrariess has, proved the emancipation of the lfbraryl worker It costs from 25 to 50 cents per volume to catalogue library books, and from IS to 80 cents to print the cards. Duplicates are now supplied at 2 cents for the first copy and l-2 cent for each additional copy. The average book requires i've cards to appropriate ly classify and cross reference 1t, There are now more than thousand libraries subscribing for the printed cards of the Library of Congress, and the number of subscribers is saneFeasins at the rate of about iB per cent a year. There are several grades sf cards, and the lowest grade full set to date may be had for about $20o. They are of Manila paper. and because they take up 50 much less spaee--requiring only about three-hfths the space of the best cards--they are often preferred to the others.
 It is estimated that there are some 100000 books in the public libraries of the United States, Of course the vast majority of these represent dupli- oates, but taken together tfsy consti- tute as complete an array of publiea- tions as Is to be found in any country. | Once the Library has become fully na- tionaIized the American investigator win have the finest library service in the world at his disposal. No other nation has yet evolved such a compre- hensive plan of support to research or aid to investigation.
 Some idea of the magnitude of the indexipg and classification work the library is doing may be gleaned from the statement that if a book index of the material in its shelves were to be printed 1t would take fifteen years to complete the job and would cost a | quarter million dollars. Sometime in the future this-raay be undertaken. but the ever-gFowing list of material re- .eived makes such a publication al- most if not entirely, impracticable
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