El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-02-17

SiOn9 there is no doubt OF It's lncIedtS-
] ing importance. This is evidenced by
I the thousands of persons who are eacn
I year training for ii, either in library
! schools or in the Libraries themselNe s'
] The demand for Librarians to take
I charge Of the Libraries grows apdcs
I with the increase Of these institutions
The office Of a librarian is becomlQg
! Of higher Importance as the interest III
I Libraries advances, now as IN the time
/ Of the Romans The first Librarians
l OF Rome were Greek slaves. afterwards
| they were freemen and when the ma
/ tiOn was at its zenith OF power the
! librarian was recognized as an officer
I almost equal in Importance to sena-
| tor.
The earliest librarian known in his
I tory Is ami Anu Of Babylon, who had
charge Of the BabylOnian library about
I 1900 3. G. Cylinders, bearing the I'M
I preston Of his signet, are now IN the
| possession Of the British museum ms
books consisted Of tone and clay tab
! lets embossed with characters by means
Z Of a sharp steel instrument the
! prophet Nehemiah is said to have
l founded a library and for years to have
had charge Of the large collection OF
I books in the temple
The duties Of the early librarian diff
] fered widely from those OF today even
/ as to the spirit Of library work dit
! fered. 1t is not enough for g Librarian
! faithfully to guard and dust few
! hundred cherished volumes. He must
put those volumes into circulation and
I have them read by the greatest posi-
! bic number Of people. And he must C.
/ cumulate more books and still more,
for as the demand is created it grows
and there must be books TO meet it
I The modern librarian must develop the
I bridesmaids spirit and attract readers
/ to his books as a merchant attracts
] customers to his wares.
Z The books must be arranged and
/ classified so that they are easy Of &C
cess for the reading public has no time
to wait while the librarian looks
I through long lines OF books TO find
the one in demand. Every system OF
classification requires scientific exact
ness and mathematical SKILL both OF
which must be- included in the qUslifi-
cations OF the librarian
Wanted Librarian to Translate.
New demands art being made each
day upon the members OF a library
staff Chicago business man recent
~ became quite indignant because no
employe Of the John Crerar library
would translate Spanish business cor
respondence for him. 1t was lengthy
correspondence at that yet he expected
the library to furnish him with q free
translation
Club women with papers to prepare
on literary or historical topics have no
conjunction in asking the public libra
rian to spend hours Of time IN research
for them, and are frequently indignant
If the name and address OF someone
outside OF the library, regularly en-
gagged in that sort Of work, Is suggest
ed to them These demands. 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 q foreign name, the dis
lance to a given point or some other
matter upon which immediate knOwl-
edge is required A New York library
nrr Ef Hra
filled the place Of public accountant
for foreign labOrer who was not able
to calculate in American money the
amount due him for a certain kind OF
work.
Classification Important.
The problems most discussed in IL
brary circles today are those bearing
upon classification. The chief OF basis
OF cISssifieation in a public library
should be the thing that attracts the
reader TO the subject OF the book
@ Classification by authors is often valu-
able but complaints are made some
times because the volumes by an auth
or VINO Is at once poet, novelist and
essayist are not all on the same shelf
Two systems OF classification are
now used extensively in American Ii /
oraries and TO degree in the more
progressive libraries in Europe. These |
are known as the Decimal system"
originated by Melville Dewey. director
oI the STATE library Of Albany: and the
T.
me oeclmai system OF classification
divides the whole field OF literature
INTO 10 classes and each Of these into
~ suoclasseS which may be divided
and subdivided indefinitely This sys-
TEN was first published in 1875 and Is
now being used by thousands Of libra
mans and is more widely known than
any other system in the world It has
oeen adopted by the Brussels institute
OF biollography, which gave il much
prominence In Europe
me use Of letters of the alphabet for
nOtatlon IN place OF figures is the chief 4
-. re on me expansion system, which 1
was not published until 1891. but has /
net win great appreciation because Of I
the scholarship displayed in its ar 4
rams cement While many Librarians pre- 4
~ LIS - stem II Is not as pleasing to ]
me PUBIC because number like "246" !
5Or example in the Dewey system. in /
a tlSales certain sequence while .sSua~ /
IS pter,pIeSlng and forbidding to the 4
= -i-iil lStsu- ElJner OF these systems, or
any oIner classification method in vo- I
cue requires long and careful training 4
before the user is capable Of giving /
elI lIt service to the public.
ne procession OF librarian, as well
- tlat or teacher, OF which il is in
many respects "a counterpart has from I
ne oeSlnnlng proved attractive to wO- (
men Inc number OF women libra Z
IaIs ana assistants exceeds that OF
the teachers
Should Know Many Things.
, me librarian should be familiar with
me industries OF his town ana try to !
keep the library in touch with them. I
A large number OF the patrons OF the
1uollc library at Providence. R T. are
the Jewelry trade. The designers
'ome TO the library for ideas Recent
Y the sweet pea flower was in demand.
me OF the Librarians went to cOnsid- {
'rable trouble to collect every sweet I
yea design in the library, whether on I
'ook covers magazines or in book to
'Iter as suggestions. For over a week !
search was made for sweet pea
blossom in a side view. and a clever /
5irl librarian finally found il as the /
initial heading Of a popular novel.
The duties o. the members Of the I
ibrary staff may be considered as ad-
advisory or educational.
lerical and disJributive The training
Il a librarian must include experience
n each of these departments and have
lso a certain amount OF manual train s
ng work in the book binding ana re-
air room.
The administrative work belongs {
My TO the head of the library. but Il ]
generally recognized that this office
an be prQperly filled only BY person Z
-hO has fad experience in each of the I
ther. branches OF work sdv-fS,-v- work I s