| ________ PUBLIC LIBRARY. | |
|---|---|
| No. of Book Wanted. | No. of Borrower’s Ticket. |
| Date. | |
Or this:—
| ________ PUBLIC LIBRARY. Lending Department. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Book Number. | Author and Title of Book Wanted. | Ticket Number. |
| Date. | Vols. Issued. | |
Renewal slips and post-cards, and bespoke cards or forms require no description.
Information circulars and readers’ handbooks are becoming more and more general, and many useful documents of the kind have been issued. The object of all is to direct attention to the library, its uses, and contents, while making more public the rules, newspapers taken, hours of opening, &c. The little handbooks issued from Manchester, Boston (U.S.), Glasgow, and elsewhere, are models.
The barest reference will suffice for such articles as book-marks, cloth or paper, overdue notices and post-cards, issue returns, branch library returns, infectious diseases notification forms, and stock-taking returns, all of which are almost explained by their names. It should be stated as a curious fact that very many persons object to having notices of overdue books or defaulting borrowers sent on post-cards, while others think a charge for the postage of such notices an imposition. Any young librarian desirous of obtaining specimens of these or any other forms will always be sure to get them on application at the various libraries. The Museum, as before stated, contains a number of all kinds of forms.
As regards ordinary Stationery it is hardly necessary to say much. Note-paper is usually stamped with the library arms, and envelopes with the name on the flap. Pens, ink, pencils, rulers, date-cases, paper-knives, &c., are all so familiar that it would be waste of time to consider them separately. Any intelligent librarian will find endless suggestion and profit from a visit to a large stationer’s warehouse, and may even pick up wrinkles of some value by keeping his eyes open to the adaptability of many articles of manufactured stationery.
RECIPES.
Pastes. Ordinary flour paste is made by mixing flour and water to the consistency of a thin cream, taking care that all knots are rubbed out, and boiling over a slow fire with constant stirring until it becomes translucent. It can be made of almost any thickness and toughness, and by the admixture of a little glue very strong paste is obtained. A few drops of oil of cloves, creasote, or corrosive sublimate, or a few grains of salicylic acid will preserve flour paste for a long time if it is kept in closely covered vessels. The office paste called “Stickphast” is a variety of this preparation, and is much better than gum. There are a number of firms in London and elsewhere who make flour pastes which will keep, and these may be had through any bookbinder or direct from the makers at a cost as small as the home-made kinds, and of a much superior quality. There are various preparations of starch also used as paste, but they are best adapted for mounting photographs. A clean compound called “gloy” used to be sold in bottles, and was found useful for mounting fine plates or for office purposes. Mr. Zaehnsdorf recommends a paste made of rice flour, mixed with cold water and gently boiled, as one admirably adapted for delicate work. For all purposes of book patching which can be accomplished by the library staff Le Page’s soluble glue will be found handier and better than the ordinary kinds.