Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/445

SCOTTISH LIBRARIES. 431 cannot be efficiently kept up from the library rate alone. While we owe a duty to posterity, we have a more immediate duty to our contemporaries, and these should not be allowed to come into Iconflidl. Mr. Carnegie's idea of helping burghs under the condition that they show a real desire to help themselves was an excellent one. In many cases, however, even though the desire for such educa tion as the library affords may exist, it cannot be realized because of local impecuniosity. What is needed is a definite scheme of standardizing libraries, both in cities and in burghs, so that the fundamental idea of a public library, the spread of education, may be realized. And further, some attempt ought to be made to provide libraries for rural districts which are too far removed from cities or burghs to be easily reached. It would not be difficult to map out rural areas for which libraries might be provided in central positions, the upkeep being met by rates covering the rural area. This method would practically bring the whole of Scotland urban and rural under the civilizing influence of literature. We come next to consider the qualifications and remuneration of those very important personages, the Chief Librarian and his staff. As for the Chief he may be a Unity, a Duality, or a Trinity- Librarian, or Librarian and Art Curator, or Librarian Art Curator and Museum Curator and yet no attempt has hitherto been made to standardize the salaries for these special duties. In one Scottish city the librarian, who has neither picture gallery nor museum under his charge, has double the salary