FORMS AND STATIONERY.
Here again selection is difficult, owing to the perplexing quantity and variety of forms, and we shall, with as little comment as possible, merely give specimens or indicate uses.
Precept forms are the requisitions for the library rate presented by London Commissioners to the Local Boards or Vestries.
Public notices, rules, &c., should be boldly printed and displayed in glazed frames.
Requisition forms are in use in a few of the larger libraries. They are filled up and submitted to the Library Committee when supplies are wanted. They seem rather a useless formality where an agenda book is kept.
Thanks circulars or acknowledgment forms usually bear the arms of the library, and are engraved on quarto sheets of good paper. Many libraries use a simple post-card with a very curt acknowledgment. Others use perforated receipt books or donation books with counterfoils, like those previously described.
Labels and book-plates for the inside of the boards of books in addition to the name and arms of the library often bear location marks and book numbers, or the names of donors. Paste holds them better than gum, and is much cleaner. An engraved bookplate of any artistic pretension should be dated and signed by designer and engraver. It is to be regretted that more of our large reference libraries do not use photographic or other reproductions of views of their best rooms for this purpose. The town’s arms are inappropriate and meaningless, while the library interior is of historical interest and germane to the object held in view, namely, marking suitably to indicate ownership.
Issues and rule-labels are chiefly used in lending libraries, though some reference libraries have labels on which the dates of issues are noted. The issue-labels must be ruled to suit the system of charging adopted, the ledger systems as a rule requiring something more than mere date slips. The rule-labels usually bear an abstract of the library rules applicable to the borrowing of books.
Vouchers for lending library borrowers must, of course, be arranged according to the general rules of the library; but in every case the agreement should take the form of a declaration: “I, the undersigned,” or “I, ________, do hereby,” or “I, ________ of ________, ratepayer in the ________, do hereby”. A large selection of all kinds of these vouchers and applications for the right of borrowing are preserved in the Museum of the Library Association. Most librarians bind the vouchers when filled up and numbered in convenient volumes, or mount them in blank books.
Borrowers’ tickets or cards also are entirely governed by the system of charging as regards shape, size, and material. Millboard, pasteboard, leather, wood, and cloth are all used. In cases where borrowers are allowed to retain their cards when they have books out it is advisable to have them rather strongly made, or else provide cases, especially when the right of borrowing extends over two years.
Receipts for fines, &c., may either be in books of numbered and priced tickets—1d., 2d., 3d., 6d., &c.—or in perforated counterfoil books with running numbers. Both kinds are extensively used, as well as tissue books with carbonised paper, similar to those seen in drapers’ shops.
Application forms for books exist in many varieties, but chiefly in connection with reference libraries. The number of lending libraries which use the application slips is as yet comparatively small, but there are indications pointing to a more general adoption of this appliance, especially where indicators are used. Some reference libraries have an elaborate application in duplicate, one part being retained when the transaction is complete, and the other returned to the borrower. The plan adopted in the British Museum of charging assistants with issues, and returning the readers’ applications, is not recommended for imitation. The very special arrangements of the Museum require special means of working, which are not suitable for general adoption. On reference library applications, in addition to the usual admonitory sentences as to books being only for use on the premises, &c., it is customary to ask for the book number or its press mark, author and title, volumes wanted, reader’s name and address, and date. In addition most libraries include a space for the initials of the assistant who issues and replaces the book, while some ask for the ages and professions of readers. Lending library applications need be no more elaborate than this:—
| ________ PUBLIC LIBRARY. | |
|---|---|
| No. of Book Wanted. | No. of Borrower’s Ticket. |
| Date. | |
Or this:—
| ________ PUBLIC LIBRARY. Lending Department. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Book Number. | Author and Title of Book Wanted. | Ticket Number. |
| Date. | Vols. Issued. | |
Renewal slips and post-cards, and bespoke cards or forms require no description.
Information circulars and readers’ handbooks are becoming more and more general, and many useful documents of the kind have been issued. The object of all is to direct attention to the library, its uses, and contents, while making more public the rules, newspapers taken, hours of opening, &c. The little handbooks issued from Manchester, Boston (U.S.), Glasgow, and elsewhere, are models.
The barest reference will suffice for such articles as book-marks, cloth or paper, overdue notices and post-cards, issue returns, branch library returns, infectious diseases notification forms, and stock-taking returns, all of which are almost explained by their names. It should be stated as a curious fact that very many persons object to having notices of overdue books or defaulting borrowers sent on post-cards, while others think a charge for the postage of such notices an imposition. Any young librarian desirous of obtaining specimens of these or any other forms will always be sure to get them on application at the various libraries. The Museum, as before stated, contains a number of all kinds of forms.
As regards ordinary Stationery it is hardly necessary to say much. Note-paper is usually stamped with the library arms, and envelopes with the name on the flap. Pens, ink, pencils, rulers, date-cases, paper-knives, &c., are all so familiar that it would be waste of time to consider them separately. Any intelligent librarian will find endless suggestion and profit from a visit to a large stationer’s warehouse, and may even pick up wrinkles of some value by keeping his eyes open to the adaptability of many articles of manufactured stationery.