459. Technical Libraries:
See all literature in [Section 458].
Hulme, E. W., and Others. Technical Libraries. In Library Association. Public Libraries (vide supra), p. 65.
The Library Association Record has been occupied largely with these subjects from 1916, and reference should be made to its indexes.
For articles see Cannons: C 459-61, Commercial, Industrial and Scientific Libraries; C 144, Commercial Libraries in U.S.; F 13, Library in Relation to Industrial Education; G 53, Industrial Collections; G 76, 78, Industrial and Trade Literature.
CHAPTER XXXI
READING-ROOM METHODS
460. Newsrooms.
460. Newsrooms.—The chief difference which exists in the composition of British and American libraries is the frequent absence from the latter of general reading rooms in which the principal newspapers are displayed for public use. The newsroom has never been generally recognized in the United States as a necessary department of a public library, and, save in a few exceptional cases, these rooms are not to be found in the average American public library. The nearest approach to the British newsroom in America is the large magazine reading room, in which all kinds of weekly and monthly periodicals are displayed. This is substantially the same as a newsroom, but without the current numbers of daily newspapers. There are reasons why the Americans do not encourage newsrooms, and one is the enormous number of newspapers which exist in every large town. The display of a representative selection of newspapers and the cost of maintaining the department would occupy a large space, and the funds would be spent to a considerable extent in providing one of the least healthy forms of literature. But perhaps the real reason for the American indifference to the newsroom is the sensational and vulgar tone of a considerable portion of the newspaper press. Some American newspapers are free from such undesirable and objectionable features as sensational and untrue comments on current events, vulgar personalities, exaggeration and misrepresentation, objectionable and dangerous advertisements, and a very low level of literary merit, but many are not. The best fugitive work of American writers of any importance is to be found in the magazines and literary weeklies, which offer a marked contrast in every respect, save perhaps as regards advertisements, to the somewhat debased character of many American daily newspapers. These are all reasons why newsrooms on the British plan are not quite desirable in American libraries, and they apply to a large extent to the altered conditions of recent British journalism. Time was when the average British newspaper represented a high standard of accuracy, fairness and literary ability, but since the importation of many doubtful American methods, the character of the press has to a large measure degenerated. Moreover, few British newspapers are independent of political or corporation control, although exceptions exist, and impartial reports of and comments upon news are rare.