No.1901.1902.1903.1904.1905.1906.1907.
1H. C. Rhodes
June 4		H. C. Rhodes
June 6
2P. Krüger✓
June 4		J. Burns
July 10
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Fig. 138.—Borrowers’ Number Register ([Section 372]).

In this each borrower is entered as he joins, receiving the first vacant number, which is also carried on to his voucher and ticket. The column is chosen which represents the year in which his ticket expires, and against the number is written the borrower’s name, and under it the month and day when the ticket expires. The holder of a given ticket can be ascertained very rapidly by this method, and time-expired or dead ticket-holders can be counted off without trouble. But it is necessary to mark or qualify the entries in order to do this. An easy way to indicate an expired ticket is to mark the register with a blue tick (✓) as shown in [Fig. 138] (No. 2). These expired numbers should be given to new borrowers, so as to keep the register filled up and complete, and at the end of a given period, when it is time to ascertain the number of “live” or actual ticket-holders, it is only necessary to count the blue ticks, and deduct their total from the last number of the series, in order to obtain the exact number of current borrowers. A number register book ruled as shown in [Fig. 138] will last for many years. It is not necessary to print the progressive numbers or years, and it will facilitate counting operations if fifty numbers are allowed for every page. Duplicate or special ticket-holders numbered in a separate series should be entered in a special book, and juvenile ticket-holders can be treated in a similar fashion.

373.

373. To prevent the possibility of a number of tickets being obtained by the same individuals, all tickets should be registered and made out at one library of a town, but, of course, issued from the library at which the application was made, and such tickets should be made interchangeable. There does not seem to be any advantage attached to separate branch registration, and certainly there is much loss of good service when residents are confined to the use of a particular branch. The residents in a town are entitled to use any of the libraries, and a central registration of borrowers is therefore essential.

374.

374. When the borrowers’ vouchers have been duly checked, numbered, and the tickets have been written out, they should be filed in alphabetical order of the borrowers’ surnames in properly guided trays (or, better, card cabinets), supplied with all necessary angle blocks, etc., as in the case of charging and card-catalogue trays and cabinets. These form the alphabetical index to the borrowers, while the borrowers’ number register supplies the numerical side. Thus any question regarding borrowers can be answered without delay. It is not necessary to keep an alphabetical index of guarantors if the electors’ roll is marked as previously suggested.

375. Bibliography

Dana, J. C. (Ed.). The Work of the Registration Desk. In Mod. American Lib. Econ., 1908.

Stewart, J. D., and Others. Open Access Libraries, 1915.