208. All donations, good, bad or indifferent, should be duly recorded in a special DONATION REGISTER, and the donors should be thanked in the usual manner, either by means of a special circular or post-card. For the majority of donations a printed post-card of acknowledgment is commonly used, and specially valuable gifts are acknowledged by special resolutions conveyed in a handsome form. It would seem better, however, if a letter-form of acknowledgment were generally used. Gratitude, even for small gifts, costs little, and its expression frequently leads to more valuable gifts. The usual wording for acknowledgments runs thus:
| LIBERTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. | ||||
| I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your giftnamed below, and to convey to you the most cordial thanksof the Library Committee. | ||||
| Yours faithfully, | ||||
| Chief Librarian. | ||||
Fig. 57.—Donation Acknowledgment ([Section 208]).
209.
209. The ruling of a donation book ([Fig. 58]) will be found to answer all ordinary purposes.
The donation number is a progressive number which should be given to all gifts, particularly books, because, when pencilled on volumes which are duplicates or not stocked for any reason, it is easy to ascertain their history by turning up the number in the donation book. Most of the other headings explain themselves. When books are added to the library as donations it is well to carry into this record the accession numbers given to them in the columns provided. In the “Remarks” column can be entered any information as to the disposal of the gifts. In some libraries a book is used which resembles a receipt book in having a counterfoil and a tear-off sheet forming a thanks circular or acknowledgment form. This style of book is less satisfactory than the form of record given [above].
| 9″ | 9″ | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dona- tion No. | Date of Re- ceipt. | Date of Acknowl- edgment. | Descrip- tion of Donation. | No. of Vols. | Name and Address of Donor. | Accession Number. | Remarks. | 13″ | ||
| Lend. | Ref. | |||||||||
Fig. 58.—Donation Book Ruling ([Section 209]).
210. Readers’ Suggestions.
210. Readers’ Suggestions.—There are comparatively few suggestions of new books made by readers in public libraries, most of the recommendations coming from the librarian and the committee. It is customary to provide a book in which members of the public can enter their suggestions, or slips as described in [Section 48]. Slips are perhaps preferable to books, as they are more likely to be used by the public and are handier to arrange. Failing them, an ordinary foolscap folio book can be provided, ruled with columns across two pages showing: