Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/225

The Dawn of a New Epoch. 213 the attendants outside. Each borrower, who is provided with the usual ticket entitling him to borrow books, instead of being invited to wade through a catalogue, and then to pore over an indicator in search of the many books that are " out," is asked to walk inside, and select a book from those that are " in." A very simple and business-like method of registration has been adopted, which for all practical purposes seems as perfect as any system can be. And if any books are stolen, they will be stolen by the deliberate and cunning thief, who will steal, no matter what check may be used. The librarian and the commissioners have, however, counted the cost of all this, and although they are sanguine that the library will suffer little or nothing from depredations, they have decided that any loss likely to be suffered in this way will be a very small price to pay for the enormous advantage offered to the honest public by the new system, and there can be no doubt of the verdict of that honest public upon the commissioners' judgment. Feeling that the occasion was the beginning of a new epoch in library work, I paid a visit to Clerkenwell on the first day of the great experiment, and remained for a considerable time in the library ; and although it may be objected that a single day's experience is not of much value, it may be remarked that in all probability the first day of such an experiment would prove to be the most trying, as not only had the library been closed for some time to admit of the structural alterations ren- dered necessary by the new plan, but there was a wide and very natural curiosity on the part of the ratepayers to try the library under its new conditions, and the consequence was a quite ab- normal rush of borrowers. Yet, in spite of the strangeness of the work to the assistants, everything worked smoothly and without a single hitch, and at the close of the day an issue of nearly i ,000 books was recorded, the greater part of these being issued between one and two and between seven and eight p.m. I very heartily congratulate Mr. Brown upon his enlight- ened courage in proposing this departure, and I equally congratu- late his commissioners upon their intelligent sympathy with Mr. Brown's aims, and upon the cordial way in which they have supported him in carrying through a scheme which would have been regarded as impossible and Utopian five years ago, and is still regarded with suspicion and mistrust by many who ought to know better. J. Y. W. MACALISTER.