403. Subscription Departments or Book Clubs.
403. Subscription Departments or Book Clubs.—In some of the older municipal libraries subscription departments or book clubs have been established, as a means of increasing the stock of a library, without much expense. Such departments exist at Bolton, Burton, Dewsbury, Dundee, Elgin, Leek, Tynemouth, Wednesbury and Workington. They are operated as follows: For a certain annual subscription any library reader or townsman may join this select library. From the subscriptions so received, supplemented in some places by occasional grants from the rate, new books are bought, generally in accordance with the wishes of a majority of members, but on this point practice varies. For one year these books are at the service of subscribers only, who borrow them in the usual way, for a fortnight or other periods according to circumstances. At the end of the year each book is transferred to the public library, and becomes the property of the library authority for the use of all borrowers. Where the selection is made with discretion, this may seem an economical way of obtaining books for a public library, and there is much to be said in its favour in present circumstances; but objections have been raised. Public libraries, it is argued, have no right to set up a privileged class in this way, especially as it is probable that the subscriptions cannot pay all the cost of service, lighting, housing, etc.; thus a proportion of the cost of maintenance falls on the library funds, and it is doubtful if in the end there is much gain in receiving as a quid pro quo a number of stale and, perhaps, not very judiciously selected books; and, further, public libraries have no right to compete with private and commercial subscription libraries for the sake of ministering to the few people who can afford the luxury of a select public library to themselves.
404.
404. Another form of subscription is occasionally indulged in by public libraries. By paying a certain subscription to large commercial libraries, like Mudie’s, they are entitled to borrow so many volumes at a time, and these are re-issued to the borrowers in the ordinary way, the library being responsible for losses. In small libraries this is often an economical way of obtaining the temporary loan of copies of expensive books for which there is a large transient demand, and in this way the people have immediate access to books which might otherwise never be bought, or only obtained in second-hand form long after their interest had faded. The only trouble about this arrangement is that it depends upon the mood of the said commercial libraries for its continuance. To what extent these would endure a constant drain from a hundred or so municipal libraries remains to be seen, as also does the problem of how they would meet the demand when it attained large dimensions. At one time certain of the London commercial libraries absolutely refused to lend books to public libraries on any terms. Now they are more complaisant.
405. Inter-Library Exchanges.
405. Inter-Library Exchanges.—This is a method of book distribution which has not been tried to any extent among British municipal libraries, and some organization would be required to place it on a working basis. Briefly, the idea is to enable a public library which has not got a particular book, to borrow it from some library which has, assuming all the responsibility for its safety and due return; and making its own arrangement with its borrower for the cost of carriage. This kind of exchanging could be managed better in London than elsewhere, but it could be applied to any group of libraries, such as those of Lancashire, Wales, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, etc. Each exchanging library would require to possess a complete set of class lists and bulletins, or other catalogues, of all the other libraries, and when a demand was made for a book which was not in its possession, the assistant could look through the catalogues of the other libraries till he found a copy, and it could then be written for, the borrower paying all resulting expenses. Of course, this arrangement would only apply to non-fictional works. There would be an undoubted advantage, too, if such a privilege could be obtained for public library borrowers from some of the older proprietary libraries with huge stocks of practically unused books which municipal libraries would not buy in the ordinary course. Arrangements whereby books from special scientific or other libraries could be borrowed for the use of local borrowers would also be an arrangement, could it be managed, which would benefit a greater number of students and other persons than at present. But, of course, there would be very serious difficulties in the way of inducing the owners of valuable special libraries to lend books for the use of strangers introduced by municipal library authorities. Meanwhile, because of these difficulties thousands upon thousands of valuable and useful books are lying idle and neglected in every part of the country, a waste of power which it is sad to contemplate.
A modification of this idea is the arrangement now made between a few towns whereby readers from the one who are visiting the other, who have been vouched for as being in good standing by their own library, are permitted to borrow books from the library in the town visited. Such an arrangement exists between Brighton and Croydon, Waterloo has a similar scheme, and possibly other places, and these have given much satisfaction. The main difficulty is that few inland libraries can give a full return to libraries in pleasure or health resorts, but perhaps too much emphasis should not be laid upon the necessity for an absolute return of service.
Reference List of Authorities
406. Branch Libraries
406. Branch Libraries: