Fig. 17.
In some large libraries trucks are used for the conveyance of heavy volumes. The light truck, covered with leather on the surfaces where books rest, such as is used in the British Museum, will be found very useful. Reference might be made here to the ingenious carrier invented by Miss James of the People’s Palace Library, London, for the purpose of conveying books from the galleries to the service counter in the middle of the floor. This consists of a box running on a wire cable, and worked by means of an endless cord and a wheel. For the peculiar purpose for which it was designed it seems to be very satisfactory. There are many other forms of lifts in use for lowering books from galleries, but very few of them are of general application. In certain parishes in London enamelled iron tablets directing to the library have been suspended from the ladder-bars of the street lamps, to show strangers the whereabouts of the institution. These are effective as a means of advertising the library, and might be used for a similar purpose in all large towns.
BOOKS OF RECORD.
For maintaining a permanent register of the different kinds of work accomplished in libraries a great number of books are used, the varieties of which are as numerous as charging systems. It would serve no useful purpose to describe all of these books, much less their variations, and so we shall content ourselves by taking a few typical specimens as representative of all the rest. As the names of these various books sufficiently describe their purpose, it will only be necessary to briefly indicate the uses of the more obscure kinds and give occasional rulings in explanation of the others.
The minute book contains a complete history of the work of the library as far as the proceedings of the Library Board is concerned, and in many cases it is really a succinct record of all the most important operations of the institution. It should be well bound in morocco or other strong leather, and should consist of good quality paper ruled faint and margin, and paged. The agenda book forms the necessary accompaniment of the minutes, and is a sort of draft minute book in which all the business to come before the meeting is entered. A plain foolscap folio book, ruled faint only, will serve for this purpose. The business is generally entered on one side of the folio and the resolutions of the meeting on the other. To save possible misunderstandings the chairman ought to enter the decisions of the Board himself, after reading them over, and the minutes should be compiled from this record rather than from separate notes made by the clerk. The business books of public libraries are not often kept by the librarian, except in London where the duties of clerk are usually conjoined. For that reason it is perhaps needless to do more than name the cash book, ledger, petty cash book, cash receipt book, and postage book as the principal records maintained for financial purposes. Many librarians unite their issue and receipts from fines books, while others keep separate records; but it is best for beginners to keep their cash affairs strictly apart, and in the ordinary fashion of good business houses. The donation book is the record of all books, prints, maps, or other gifts to the library, ruled to show the following particulars: Author and Title | Vols. and Date | Name and Address of Donor | Date of Receipt | Date of Acknowledgment | and, sometimes, the library number. Some libraries have this book with a counterfoil, in which a double entry is made, and the detachable portion is torn off to form a thanks circular. This is a very convenient style of register.
Proposition book and suggestion book. In many cases these are nothing more than plain faint ruled folio volumes, in which readers are allowed to enter suggestions of new books or on the management of the library. Often, however, the proposition book is ruled to carry the following particulars: Book proposed | Publisher and Price | Date of Publication | Name and Address of Proposer | Decision of Committee | Date or Number of Order |. In other cases a form is supplied to readers desirous of making suggestions of any sort. Contract or estimate books are not always used, but the young librarian will find it of the greatest convenience to keep a chronological record of every estimate received for work to be done in the library. A guard book in which can be pasted the various tenders received, or an ordinary plain ruled one in which they can be entered, will be found a perfect treasury of assistance in many cases. An index at the beginning or end can easily be made. Inventory books are intended to furnish a complete record of all the library property, showing when, from whom, and at what cost every item of furniture, fitting, stationery, &c., was procured. It can be kept in a specially ruled book, or in a faint ruled folio, classified to show the different kinds of supplies. When re-ordering or reckoning up the duration of supplies, this book will be found of the greatest use. As a record of prices it is also valuable. Invoice books are sometimes kept in two forms: first, as mere guard books in which paid invoices are pasted; and second, as chronological records of every lot of books received by purchase or donation. This very often saves much trouble in fixing the routine in which books should be dealt with when being prepared for public use. The ordinary ruling is as follows: Date of Receipt | Name of Donor or Vendor | First Word of Invoice | No. of Vols. | Total Cost | Remarks |. In addition to these columns some librarians add spaces for marking with initials when every process connected with the preparation of the books has been finished. Location books are used only with the movable system of shelving books and are long narrow volumes ruled to hold 50 lines on a folio, with the numbers written or printed down one side, generally running from 1 to 10,000. The specimen ruling will show this plainly.
| 501-550 | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Location. | Author and Title. |
| 501 | ||
| 02 | ||
| 03 | ||
The first new book awaiting treatment of course receives the first unappropriated number. Some location books give additional particulars, such as a column for the date of accession of books, which is often required when spaces are left for continued sets of a series. The stock book in most libraries forms a numerical catalogue of accessions in the order of their receipt; giving particulars of edition, binding, vendor or donor, price, and other information. It is, therefore, the most valuable record kept by the library, if the minute book is excepted. Some are classified, others classify the books in separate columns, while a few keep the classification in a different book. The following selection of headings will show the variety of rulings in use. At Bradford a classified stock book is used, and it is ruled thus:—
| (Press) 850-899. | Class. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date. | Book No. | Title. | Author. | Stock Book No. |
| 850 | ||||
| 851 | ||||
| 852 | ||||