BOOKS OF RECORD.

For maintaining a permanent register of the different kinds of work accomplished in libraries a great number of books are used, the varieties of which are as numerous as charging systems. It would serve no useful purpose to describe all of these books, much less their variations, and so we shall content ourselves by taking a few typical specimens as representative of all the rest. As the names of these various books sufficiently describe their purpose, it will only be necessary to briefly indicate the uses of the more obscure kinds and give occasional rulings in explanation of the others.

The minute book contains a complete history of the work of the library as far as the proceedings of the Library Board is concerned, and in many cases it is really a succinct record of all the most important operations of the institution. It should be well bound in morocco or other strong leather, and should consist of good quality paper ruled faint and margin, and paged. The agenda book forms the necessary accompaniment of the minutes, and is a sort of draft minute book in which all the business to come before the meeting is entered. A plain foolscap folio book, ruled faint only, will serve for this purpose. The business is generally entered on one side of the folio and the resolutions of the meeting on the other. To save possible misunderstandings the chairman ought to enter the decisions of the Board himself, after reading them over, and the minutes should be compiled from this record rather than from separate notes made by the clerk. The business books of public libraries are not often kept by the librarian, except in London where the duties of clerk are usually conjoined. For that reason it is perhaps needless to do more than name the cash book, ledger, petty cash book, cash receipt book, and postage book as the principal records maintained for financial purposes. Many librarians unite their issue and receipts from fines books, while others keep separate records; but it is best for beginners to keep their cash affairs strictly apart, and in the ordinary fashion of good business houses. The donation book is the record of all books, prints, maps, or other gifts to the library, ruled to show the following particulars: Author and Title | Vols. and Date | Name and Address of Donor | Date of Receipt | Date of Acknowledgment | and, sometimes, the library number. Some libraries have this book with a counterfoil, in which a double entry is made, and the detachable portion is torn off to form a thanks circular. This is a very convenient style of register.

Proposition book and suggestion book. In many cases these are nothing more than plain faint ruled folio volumes, in which readers are allowed to enter suggestions of new books or on the management of the library. Often, however, the proposition book is ruled to carry the following particulars: Book proposed | Publisher and Price | Date of Publication | Name and Address of Proposer | Decision of Committee | Date or Number of Order |. In other cases a form is supplied to readers desirous of making suggestions of any sort. Contract or estimate books are not always used, but the young librarian will find it of the greatest convenience to keep a chronological record of every estimate received for work to be done in the library. A guard book in which can be pasted the various tenders received, or an ordinary plain ruled one in which they can be entered, will be found a perfect treasury of assistance in many cases. An index at the beginning or end can easily be made. Inventory books are intended to furnish a complete record of all the library property, showing when, from whom, and at what cost every item of furniture, fitting, stationery, &c., was procured. It can be kept in a specially ruled book, or in a faint ruled folio, classified to show the different kinds of supplies. When re-ordering or reckoning up the duration of supplies, this book will be found of the greatest use. As a record of prices it is also valuable. Invoice books are sometimes kept in two forms: first, as mere guard books in which paid invoices are pasted; and second, as chronological records of every lot of books received by purchase or donation. This very often saves much trouble in fixing the routine in which books should be dealt with when being prepared for public use. The ordinary ruling is as follows: Date of Receipt | Name of Donor or Vendor | First Word of Invoice | No. of Vols. | Total Cost | Remarks |. In addition to these columns some librarians add spaces for marking with initials when every process connected with the preparation of the books has been finished. Location books are used only with the movable system of shelving books and are long narrow volumes ruled to hold 50 lines on a folio, with the numbers written or printed down one side, generally running from 1 to 10,000. The specimen ruling will show this plainly.

501-550
No.	Location.	Author and Title.
501
02
03

The first new book awaiting treatment of course receives the first unappropriated number. Some location books give additional particulars, such as a column for the date of accession of books, which is often required when spaces are left for continued sets of a series. The stock book in most libraries forms a numerical catalogue of accessions in the order of their receipt; giving particulars of edition, binding, vendor or donor, price, and other information. It is, therefore, the most valuable record kept by the library, if the minute book is excepted. Some are classified, others classify the books in separate columns, while a few keep the classification in a different book. The following selection of headings will show the variety of rulings in use. At Bradford a classified stock book is used, and it is ruled thus:—

(Press) 850-899.		Class.
Date.	Book No.	Title.	Author.	Stock Book No.
	850
	851
	852

Stock Number	Shelf Number	Author and Title	Volumes	Condition	Vendor or Donor	Price	How Acquired			Classification	Remarks
Stock Number	Shelf Number	Author and Title	Volumes	Condition	Vendor or Donor	Price	Bought	Given	News Room	A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I.	Remarks
7501	B 1874

With stock books of the Glasgow pattern a classification book is commonly used, in which are entered abstracts of classes, books, pamphlets, purchases, gifts, works as distinguished from volumes, special collections, totals, &c., page by page. Accuracy is almost inevitable by this method, owing to the numerous cross checks provided. In some libraries separate stock books are kept for periodicals and annual publications, but the principle in all is similar to the ordinary stock book. It only remains to add that, as stock books are records of some importance and permanency, they ought to be made of the very best materials. The shelf register, as the name indicates, is the volume in which a list of the books is kept, in the order of their arrangement on the shelves. Such registers are only required for the fixed plan of location. The most elementary form simply gives the | Press Mark | Author and Title | No. of Vols. | Stock, Progressive, or Consecutive Number | ; the last referring to the entry in the accessions or stock book. Others are much more elaborate, being really varieties of classified stock books, and giving particulars of edition, price, &c. The main uses of the shelf catalogue or register are to fix the numbers of new books, and to afford a ready means of taking stock. The varieties of this book are practically endless, and we shall only give two other specimens:—

Press No. _________________
Shelf Letter ______________
Date of Accession.	Shelf Order.	Progressive Number.	Author.	Short Title.	Place.	Date.

and

Remarks.	Number.	Author.	Title of Book.	Admitted.

Duplicate registers give particulars of the accession of duplicate books, and their destination if sold or exchanged. Order and letter books are usually just separate copying books, but frequently the former are kept with counterfoils, and sometimes separate ruled forms are used, and simply copied into an ordinary tissue letter book. Binding books or sheets record the volumes sent out for binding or repair, and usually note the following particulars:—

Manchester. Date of Sending.

Bradford. Date of Sending.

Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Date of Sending.

| Instruction | Lettering | Date of Return |.

Borrowers’ and guarantors’ registers are sometimes kept in books, but often on cards, which are the most convenient. They register names, addresses, period of borrowing right, and guarantors in one case, and names, addresses, and persons guaranteed in the other. In some libraries a record of each borrower’s reading is posted on to his card from the book application forms.

Periodical receipt and check books are for marking off the current numbers of newspapers and magazines as received from the newsagent, and for checking them each morning as they lie on the tables or racks. Ruled sheets and cards are also used for the same purpose. They usually consist of lists of monthly, weekly, daily, and other periodicals, with rulings to show dates of receipt or finding covering a period of one to six months. Issue books, for recording the issues of books in libraries, are designed in many styles, each having reference to the particular requirements of a certain institution. Generally, however, the particulars preserved include: | Date | No. of Vols. Issued by Classes | Totals | Weekly or Monthly Average |. Many give the number of visits to newsrooms and reading-rooms, while others include the amounts received from fines, sale of catalogues, &c. One issue book is usually ruled to show the work accomplished in every department, but many libraries keep separate registers for lending and reference departments. In towns where there are a number of branch libraries the returns of issues, &c., are often recorded in a very elaborate and complete fashion. The day book or issue ledger has already been referred to under ledger charging systems, but in addition to these there is an endless variety of daily issue sheets, some simple and some very complex. It would be useless to give patterns of these, as the whole question of their adoption hinges on the main system by which each library is managed. Work books, time book and sheets, scrap books, and lost and found registers are sufficiently described by their names. The two first are for staff management, and in large libraries are absolutely necessary; the work book for noting the duties of each assistant, and the time book or sheet for recording times of arrival and departure from duty. Lost and found registers record thefts, mutilations, or other abstractions of library property, and dates and descriptions of articles found on the premises. These are, roughly speaking, the most necessary books of record required in the administration of a public library, but many others exist which have been designed for special purposes. The Museum of the Association contains specimens of many of the books above named, and librarians are, as a rule, glad to show what they have in the way of novelties or variations from standard patterns.