325. The typewriter and its accessories are to be taken for granted in all libraries; and in connexion therewith its own special stationery, typewriting carbon, and stencilling papers, inks, etc. Most libraries of even medium size now employ a skilled stenographer who acts as secretary to the chief librarian, manages the correspondence filing, the duplicating work, copies catalogue cards, etc. The best typewriter is the cheapest machine in the long run, and it should be equipped with carding and tabulating apparatus. Those which have more than one fount of type, as roman and italic, large and condensed types, have much to recommend them. A duplicating machine is an invaluable accessory. For small libraries the flat stencil-duplicating machine, such as the Gestetner, will suffice, and probably the best copies of smaller work, card forms, etc., are obtained by this means. But for circulars, book-lists, programmes and other matters of which many copies are required a cyclostyle is desirable. By its means topical reading lists and the many circulars which a live library desires to issue almost every week can be prepared and circulated widely with the utmost dispatch. Such a machine is one of the best investments a library can make.
| Date. | Description. | Price. | Vendor. | Location. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | s. | d. | ||||
Fig. 124.—Inventory Book ([Section 326]).
326. Records.
326. Records.—An inventory should be kept of all supplies ordered, with dates and quantities, and a very good plan is to use the cards described at [Section 327]. These could be ruled in a series of columns to show dates, quantities and prices, and kept in a box which would serve the double purpose of inventory and supplies index. But there are other supplies besides stationery, etc., and these would have to be added. An inventory should be kept of all movable property belonging to the library, such as furniture, pictures and other articles. It could be ruled as shown in [Fig. 124].
327.
327. The following is a good and simple method of keeping an inventory of supplies, and providing for their automatic renewal. Thin slips on tough paper are ruled and printed as in the examples shown ([Figs. 125]-[6]).
| PAPER | |||||||||
| Description—Foolscap, ruled faint and margin. | |||||||||
| Location4—2. | Sample359 | ||||||||
| Date. | Quantity. | Vendor. | Price. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906. | |||||||||
| April 6 | 2 | Reams | (A | 6) | Wicer | 8/6 | — | 17 | — |
| Oct. 20 | 2 | „ | (A | 59) | „ | 8/6 | — | 17 | — |
| 1907. | |||||||||
| April 15 | 2 | „ | (A | 165) | Nobbs | 8/- | — | 16 | — |
 | |||||||||
Fig. 125.—Front of Inventory Slip.
| |||||||||
| Price. | |||||||||