The Clipping of Periodicals
Clipping may be legitimately indulged in, when an article of interest is found in a single number of a periodical, to which the library does not subscribe. Newspaper items, of course, must always be clipped and there will be always material like printed leaflets which will require the same kind of filing as clippings.
Clippings are best filed in vertical file units, and methods of filing and indexing are discussed in Chapter VI. The "U-File-M" binder strips manufactured by the U-File-M Manufacturing Co., Syracuse, New York, are exceedingly useful and satisfactory for fastening clippings, single sheets or thin booklets into vertical file folders. These strips need to be visualized by samples in order to clearly understand how they work, but they can be described in general as gummed strips a half-inch in width and 11 inches long with forty-four gummed tabs one-eighth of an inch wide affixed, which can be pulled out from under a protecting strip with the finger nail. The eleven-inch strip or any cut off portion, can be glued horizontally or vertically into a folder and papers or clippings attached by the gummed tabs.
Business firms who wish to keep up with any special information appearing in the daily press often employ a press clipping bureau. Such service always furnishes quantity rather than quality, as no attempt is made to select only items of real value. For example, a firm specializing in the manufacture of canned milk ordered a clipping bureau to send it all newspaper clippings on milk and among the clippings sent was one of a milkman arrested for speeding, and similar clippings were frequently sent. If very special information from the daily press is desired the clipping should be done by a person within the organization who has intimate knowledge both of the subject and of the need.
SOME DEALERS IN BACK NUMBERS OF PERIODICALS
Abrahams Book Store, 145 Fourth Avenue, New York City.
F. W. Faxon Company, Boston, Massachusetts.
The H. W. Wilson Company, New York City.
CHAPTER IV
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS AND THE
BUSINESS LIBRARY
The United States Government is the leading publisher of accurate and reliable information bearing upon all kinds of business activities. No question should ever be investigated or data collected by a business firm without taking into consideration the valuable sources of government information on that particular subject. The "Youroveta Review," in its March, 1919 issue, says:
"It is not only safety and accuracy in the performance of its regular duties, but also expansion and development at which a progressive firm is aiming; and this can be attained only when the business is analyzed from all aspects of practical interest, when the horizon is being constantly searched, and endeavors are made to explore new commercial avenues."
Studies of mineral, oil and gas deposits, tests of boiler and furnace efficiencies, analyses and tests of fuels, production of crops and cattle, labor problems, electrolysis, standards for gas and electric service, foreign trade, water power and statistics of all industrial activities, constitute a few of the subjects on which the government periodically reports.
The daily paper called "Commerce Reports," which gives reports and business tips on trade and industrial conditions, gathered by American Consular officers at their respective posts throughout the world, is an invaluable periodical for business men in this after-the-war period of trade development.
The United States Shipping Board has issued a valuable series of free pamphlets in the interest of export trade, some of which are:
World Trade; A List of Books on World Trade.
Selection of Books on Foreign Languages.
Ships and the Ocean; A List of Books on Ships, Commerce and The Merchant Marine.
Foreign Countries; A List of Books on Foreign Countries.
Many practical illustrations could be given, if space permitted, of the use made by business firms of government publications. For example, a large mail order house made a decision, based on consulting the Weather Bureau's temperature records in the different sections of the country for a range of years, as to what date would be best for sending out, to various districts, advance catalogs advertising summer and winter wearing apparel; while an engineering firm, designing a gas holder to be erected in a northern city, decided on the factor of safety to be adopted against the lowest possible temperature, by consulting the weather reports for the lowest temperatures which prevailed in that section for a long range of years.