Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-18

Whether or not the newly developed
work Of the librarian as it is practiced
in America may be properly classed a
a profession, there is no doubt or It's
increasing Importance. This is evidenced
by the thousands of persons who are
each year training for it, either in iiprar!
schools or in the libraries themselves.
The demand for librarians to take charge
of the libraries grows apace with the
increase Of these institutions.
The ofilce of librarian is becoming OF
higher importance as the interest III
libraries advances. now as in the time OF
the Romans. The first librarians of Rome
were Greek slaves; afterward they were
freemen and when the nation was at
its zenith of power the lfbran-n was
recognized as an officer almost equal
in Importance to a senator.
The earliest librarian known in history
Is Anil Anu of Babylon, who had charge
of the Babylonian library about 16V'
BIC. Cylinders bearing the impression
Of his signet, are now In the possession
Of the British Museum. His books con.
sisted of stone and clay tablets embossed
with characters by means of sharp
steel instrument The Prophe. Meme
miah is said to have founded library
and for years to have had charge OF
the large collection of books in the tenn
pie.
The duties of the early librarian diff
fered widely from those of today, even
as the spirit of library
nuties If work differed. 1t is not
enough for a librarian
LlDrarlan. faithfully to guard and
l,,e IT, ,oY,,
He must put those volumes into circula-
ton and have them read by the greatest
possible number of people. And he must
accumulate more books and still more,
for as the demand is created !, grows
and there must be books to meet 1t. The
modern librarian must develop the trades
mans spirit and attract readers to his
books as a merchant attracts customers
to his wares.
The books must be arranged and CLASH
fed SO that they are easy of access, Tor
the reading public has no time 10 wait
while the librarian looks through long
lines of books to find the one in demand
Every system Of classification requires
scientific exactness and mathematical
skill, both of which must be included In
the qualifications of the librarian.
New demands are being made each day
upon the members Of q library stan. A
Chicago business man recently became
quite indignant because no employee OF
the John Crerar library would translate
a Spanish business correspondence Tor
him. 1t was lengthy correspondence at
that, yet he expected the library to fur
nish him with free translation.
Club women with papers to prepare on
literary or historical topics have no COM
junction in asking the public librarian to
spend hours Of time In research for them
and are frequently indignant II the name
and address of some one outside OF the
library regularly engaged in that sort of
work. Is suggested to them. These de-
mands, however, do not seem quite so
preposterous in consideration of the many
ways the libraries really do meet the
wants OF the people. Most city libraries
have a telephone connection by which a
busy man may quickly secure the answer
to some simple question. such as the
spelling OF a foreign name. the distance
to q given point or some other matter
upon which immediate knowledge Is re-
Quired. A New York library assistant on
several occasions has filed the place Of
public accountant for a foreign laborer
who was not able to calculate IN Ameri-
can money the amount due him for a
certain kind Of work.
The problems most discussed in library
circles today are those bearing upon clas-
SifcaGOn. The chief
Problems of basis of classification
Classification. aho,,a ~ tha ,n;ns
that attracts the reader to the subject of
the book. Classification by authors is
often valuable, but complaints are made
sometimes because the volumes by an
author who is at once a poet, novelist
and esayist are not all on the same shelf.
Two systems of classification are now
used extensively in American libraries
and to a degree in the more progressive
I;h.or,as Il, E,,,rooa ,rbaco orc LuGun q g