391.
391. The only other indicator which is designed on an entirely different principle from any of the foregoing is the Adjustable Indicator proposed by the author in a paper read before the Library Association in 1895, and published in The Library for 1896, with illustrations. This was a practical proposal for an adjustable indicator in which its size should be limited by the number of books in actual circulation, and not by the number in stock. There is a very important point here, as a library with a stock of 30,000 volumes would require an indicator occupying about thirty-eight feet run of counter space. If it never had more than 4000 volumes out at one time, these could be shown on the limited indicator above named within a space of not more than six or eight feet. This is a most important question, and it is inevitable that, in many libraries where conditions and feeling are opposed to progressive changes, this continual growth of indicator space will force library authorities into the serious consideration of less crowded methods.
392.
392. On the principle of limiting the indicator to one particular class of literature, several varieties have been introduced at Brighton, Wimbledon, Glasgow and Lewisham. So many libraries now use indicators for Fiction only that there is some advantage in having special appliances for the purpose. The Glasgow indicator consists of a series of detached columns with adjustable number-blocks representing the books, arranged so that insertions can be made at any point. The Lewisham or Graham indicator is an alphabetical one, and consists of an ordinary pigeon-holed frame, into which fit small numbered blocks of wood or metal bearing the names of authors and similar blocks with the numbers of their works. The chief advantage of this form is that it is self-contained, and requires no key to enable borrowers to ascertain what are the titles of books indicated in. A simple reference to the author’s name in the ordinary catalogue enables this to be done. An indicator on similar lines has been invented by Cotgreave, who applied the idea to a magazine indicator.
| Out . . | ● | ARGOSY. |
| In . . . | ○ | ART JOURNAL. |
Fig. 148.—Diagram of Periodicals Indicator ([Section 393]).
393.
393. Indicators are occasionally used for recording and indicating the issue of the parts of periodicals, both in lending libraries and reading-rooms. The reading-room indicator simply shows what periodicals are in use or available, in cases where they are kept behind a barrier instead of being spread over tables or racks. There are examples of this indicator at the Public Libraries of St Saviour’s, Southwark, and Finsbury. The principle is simple. The titles of magazines are mounted upon narrow blocks of wood, arranged loosely in columns so as to be adjustable, within a glazed frame. The back of this frame is open to the staff only. Against the end of each title a hole is drilled to take a round peg which is coloured black at one end and white at the other. The white ends are shown when a magazine is in, and when it is issued the peg is reversed to show the black end. This indicates out.
394.
394. As a substitute for indicators, and an approach to open access, many libraries provide a show-case for new books on the lending library counter, to enable readers to see the additions as they are made. In some libraries these show-cases are not glazed on the public side, so that the readers have the additional privilege of examining the new books as well as merely seeing them. Certain libraries, like Birkenhead and St George’s-in-the East, Stepney, have whole departments of books arranged behind wire or glass within seeing distance of the readers, and they have the option of choice by bindings and titles, which, if not much better, is as good as choosing from catalogue entries, and at any rate gives the semblance of freedom and closer touch with the books.