him a varied knowledge of library matters. A year of this time is generally spent at the library of Gottingen University in the study of library economy. If the candidate acquits himself satisfactorily during these two years, he may present himself for the examination for the post of library assistant. The subjects are library economy, bibliography, literary history, history of writing and books, and the English, French, and Italian languages to the extent necessary for a librarian ; a knowledge of palaeography and early printing is of advantage to the candidate.
The proportion of the staff that is recruited in this way, as compared with the less-educated men, is particularly large throughout all Germany,[1] a state of things not so desirable as heads of libraries in that country appear to think. The systems of arrangement appear to render books findable only to a man of learning, so that uneducated labour cannot be employed in finding them and returning them to the shelves.
The staffs of the public libraries in Italy have only since 1885 been recruited in a methodical fashion. In that year a regolantento of the Ministry of Public Instruction provided that candidates for the position of assistant librarian (sottobibliotecario) must be between the ages of seventeen and thirty, must possess a certificate of a high school {licenza liceale, obtainable only after an eight years' course), and undergo an examination, in which they are required (i) to write an essay on a portion of
- ↑ Dziatzko : Entwickelung, &c. [op. cit.].
