| K 5942. Wood—East Lynne. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Issue. | Borrowers’ No. | Date of Return. | Date of Issue. | Borrowers’ No. | Date of Return. |
| 4 May | 395 | 18 May | |||
| 6 June | 3421 | ||||
Every book has a page or more, according to popularity, and there can hardly be a doubt of its superiority to the personal ledger, because the question of a book’s whereabouts is more often raised than what book a given reader has. Dates of issue and return are stamped, and all books are available for issue on return. The borrowers’ cards, if kept in dated trays as above, show at once “overdues” and who have books out. But the “overdues” can be ascertained also by periodical examination of the ledger. In this system book ledgers are as handy as cards. In both of the ledger systems above described classified day sheets for statistical purposes are used. They are generally ruled thus:—
| Date. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | C | D | E | F |
and the issues are recorded by means of strokes or other figures. At one time it was considered an ingenious arrangement to have a series of boxes lettered according to classes, with locked doors and apertures at the top, in which a pea could be dropped for every issue in any class; but this seems to have been now completely abandoned. Certainly neither the sheet-stroking nor pea-dropping method of getting at the number of daily issues can be recommended, because in both cases the account is at the mercy of assistants, who may either neglect to make such charges, or register some dozen issues at a time to account for intervals spent in idling. An application slip is the best solution of the difficulty. This can either be filled up by the assistants or the borrowers. In certain libraries these slips are of some permanence, being made of stout paper in long narrow strips, on which borrowers enter their ticket-numbers and the numbers and classes of the books they would like. The assistant stamps the current date against the book had out, and the slips, after the statistics are compiled from them, are sorted in order of borrowers’ numbers and placed in dated trays. Of course when the borrower returns the book, his list is looked out, and the name of the returned book heavily cancelled and another work procured as before. There are various kinds of ticket-books issued for this purpose, some with counterfoils and detachable cheques, and others with similar perforated slips and ruled columns for lists of books wanted to read. Messrs. Lupton & Co. of Birmingham, Mr. Ridal of Rotherham Free Library, and Messrs. Waterston & Sons, stationers, Edinburgh, all issue different varieties of call-books, or lists of wants. Some libraries provide slips of paper, on which the assistant jots down the book-number after the borrower hands it in with his ticket-number written in thus:—
| Ticket. | Book. |
|---|---|
| 5963 | C 431 |
These are simply filed at the moment of service, and become the basis of the statistical entry for each day’s operations. Such slips save the loss of time which often arises when careful entries have to be made on day-sheets or books, and there can be no question as to their greater accuracy. These are the main points in connection with the most-used class of day-books and ledgers.
CARD-CHARGING SYSTEMS.
Somewhat akin to the ledger systems are the various card- and pocket-charging methods which work without the intervention of an indicator. There are several of such systems in existence both in Britain and the United States, most of them having features in common, but all distinguished by differences on points of detail. At Bradford a pocket system has long been in use. It is worked as follows: Every book has attached to one of the inner sides of its boards a linen pocket, with a table of months for dating, and an abstract of the lending rules. Within this pocket is a card on which are the number and class of the book, its title and author. To each reader is issued on joining a cloth-covered card and a pocket made of linen, having on one side the borrower’s number, name, address, &c., and on the other side a calendar. The pockets are kept in numerical order at the library, and the readers retain their cards. When a borrower wishes a book, he hands in a list of numbers and his card to the assistant, who procures the first book he finds in. He next selects from the numerical series of pockets the one bearing the reader’s number. The title card is then removed from the book and placed in the reader’s numbered pocket, and the date is written in the date column of the book pocket. This completes the process at the time of service. At night the day’s issues are classified and arranged in the order of the book numbers, after the statistics are made up and noted in the sheet ruled for the purpose, and are then placed in a box bearing the date of issue. When a book is returned the assistant turns up its date of issue, proceeds to the box of that date, and removes the title card, which he replaces in the book. The borrower’s pocket is then restored to its place among its fellows. The advantages of this plan are greater rapidity of service as compared with the ledger systems, and a mechanical weeding out of overdues somewhat similar to what is obtained by the “Duplex” indicator system described further on. Its disadvantages are the absence of permanent record, and the danger which exists of title cards getting into the wrong pockets.