libraries use the card, sheaf and other systems which allow
constant and infinite intercalation coupled with economy and
ease in making additions.
The idea of using separate slips or cards for cataloguing books, in order to obtain complete powers of arrangement and revision is not new, having been applied during the French revolutionary period to the cataloguing of libraries. More recently the system has been applied to various commercial purposes, such as book-keeping by what is known as the “loose-leaf ledger,” and in this way greater public attention has been directed to the possibilities of adjustable methods both in libraries and for business. The card system is perhaps the most generally used at present, but many improvements in the adjustable binders, called by librarians the “sheaf system,” will probably result in this latter form becoming a serious rival. The card method consists of a series of cards in alphabetical or other order kept on edge in trays or drawers, to which projecting guides are added in order to facilitate reference. Entries are usually made on one side of the card, and one card serves for a single entry. The sheaf method provides for slips of an uniform size being kept in book form in volumes capable of being opened by means of a screw or other fastening, for the purpose of adding or withdrawing slips. In addition to the advantage of being in book-form the sheaf system allows both sides of a slip to be used, while in many cases from two to twelve entries may be made on one slip. This is a great economy and leads to considerable saving of space. A great advantage resulting from the use of an adjustable manuscript catalogue, in whatever form adopted, is the simplicity with which it can be kept up-to-date. This is an advantage which in the view of many librarians outweighs the undoubted valuable qualities of comparative safety and multiplication of copies possessed by the printed form. There are many different forms of both card and sheaf systems, and practically every library now uses one or other of them for cataloguing or indexing purposes.
One other modification in connexion with the complete printed catalogue has been tried with success, and seems worthy of brief mention. After a complete manuscript catalogue has been provided in sheaf form, a select or eclectic catalogue is printed, comprising all the most important books in the library and those that represent special subjects. This, when supplemented by a printed list or bulletin of additions, seems to supply every need.
The most striking tendency of the modern library movement is the great increase in the freedom allowed to readers both in reference and lending departments. Although access to the shelves was quite a common feature in the older subscription libraries, and in state libraries like the British Museum and Patent Office, it is only within comparatively recent years that lending library borrowers were granted a similar privilege. Most municipal reference libraries grant access to a large or small collection of books, and at Cambridge, Birmingham and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the practice is of long standing. So also in the United States, practically every library has its open shelf collection. On the continent of Europe, however, this method is not at all general, and books are guarded with a jealousy which in many cases must militate against their utility. The first “safe-guarded” open access municipal lending library was opened at Clerkenwell (now Finsbury), London, in 1893, and since then over one hundred cities and districts of all sizes in Britain have adopted the system. The British municipal libraries differ considerably from those of the United States in the safeguards against abuse which are employed, and the result is that their losses are insignificant, whilst in America they are sometimes enormous. Pawtucket and Cleveland in America were pioneers to some extent of the open shelf system for lending libraries, but the methods employed had little resemblance to the safe-guarded system of British libraries. The main features of the British plan are: exact classification; class, shelf and book guiding; the provision of automatic locking wickets to regulate the entrance and exit of borrowers, and the rule that borrowers must be registered before they can obtain admission. This last rule is not always current in America, and in consequence abuses are liable to take place. The great majority of British and American libraries, whether allowing open access or not, use cards for charging or registering books loaned to borrowers. In the United Kingdom a considerable number of places still use indicators for this purpose, although this mechanical method is gradually being restricted to fiction, save in very small places.
Other activities of modern libraries which are common to both Britain and America are courses of lectures, book exhibitions, work with children, provision of books for the blind and for foreign residents, travelling libraries and the education of library assistants. In many of the recent buildings, especially in those erected from the gifts of Mr Andrew Carnegie, special rooms for lectures and exhibitions and children are provided. Courses of lectures in connexion with the Liverpool and Manchester public libraries date from 1860, but during the years 1900–1910 there was a very great extension of this work. As a rule these courses are intended to direct attention to the literature of the subjects treated, as represented in the libraries, and in this way a certain amount of mutual advantage is secured. In some districts the libraries work in association with the education authorities, and thus it is rendered possible to keep schools supplied with books, over which the teachers are able to exercise supervision. This connexion between libraries and schools is much less common in the United Kingdom than in the British colonies and the United States, where the libraries are regarded as part of the national system of education. Excellent work has been accomplished within recent years by the Library Association in the training of librarians, and it is usual for about 300 candidates to come forward annually for examination in literary history, bibliography, classification, cataloguing, library history and library routine for which subjects certificates and diplomas are awarded. The profession of municipal librarian is not by any means remunerative as compared with employment in teaching or in the Civil Service, and until the library rate is increased there is little hope of improvement.
The usefulness of public libraries has been greatly increased by the work of the Library Association, founded in 1877, during the first International Library Conference held in London in October 1877. A charter of incorporation was granted to the association in 1898. It holds monthly and annual meetings, publishes a journal, conducts examinations, issues certificates, holds classes for instruction, and has greatly helped to improve the public library law. The Library Assistants Association (1895) publishes a journal. A second International Library Conference was held at London in 1897, and a third at Brussels in 1910. Library associations have been started in most of the countries of Europe, and the American Library Association, the largest and most important in existence, was established in 1876. These associations are giving substantial aid in the development and improvement of library methods and the status of librarians, and it is certain that their influence will in time produce a more scientific and valuable type of library than at present generally exists.
British Colonies and India.
The majority of the British Colonies and Dependencies have permissive library laws on lines very similar to those in force in the mother country. There are, however, several points of difference which are worth mention. The rate limit is not so strict in every case, and an effort is made to bring the libraries into closer relations with the educational machinery of each colony. There is, for example, no rate limit in Tasmania; and South Australia may raise a library rate equivalent to 3d. in the £, although, in both cases, owing to the absence of large towns, the legislation existing has not been adopted. In Africa, Australia and Canada the governments make grants to public libraries up to a certain amount, on condition that the reading-rooms are open to the public, and some of the legislatures are even in closer touch with the libraries. The Canadian and Australian libraries are administered more or less on American lines, whilst those of South Africa, India, &c., are managed on the plan followed in England.
Africa.
There are several important libraries in South Africa, and many small town libraries which used to receive a government grant equal to the subscriptions of the members, but in no case did such grants exceed £150 for any one library in one year. These grants fluctuate considerably owing to the changes and temper of successive governments, and since the last war they have been considerably reduced everywhere. One of the oldest libraries is the South African Public Library at Cape Town established in 1818, which enjoys the copyright-privilege of
