Type Cabinet
On books bound in dark cloth or leather, numbers can be written in white ink. Some librarians find this plan quite satisfactory. The method is this: The place for the number being located, wash the varnish away from it with a clean cloth, dampened with a mixture of ammonia one part and water two parts, and allow to dry. Then write the letters with a fine camel’s hair brush, about No. 2 in size. When thoroughly dry give the letters a thin coat of shellac. David’s white letterine is one of the best white inks. White ink is difficult to manage and wears off soon if not very carefully put on.
Labels should always be put at least four inches from the bottom of the back, the tail, that they may not be soiled or worn off in handling. They should be marked with india-ink in large, plain figures. On many books it will pay to have them gilded, as when thus put on they do not detract from the book’s appearance and look well for an indefinite time. If labels are used, put them on as follows: The place for the label being located, wash away the varnish from that place a little with a clean cloth dampened with water and ammonia. If the book is thin cut the label before it is put on, so that it does not quite reach the edges of the back. If the book is so thin that there would not be sufficient room for the book number on a label cut to fit it, place the label on the upper left corner of the front cover. Press the label tightly and evenly down until it sticks firmly all over. This is most important. Use Dennison’s round gummed labels. These, being round, present no corners to be easily ruffed up. They are free from lines around the border, so their whole surface is available for the book number. They can be had in several sizes.
Lay out a scheme for marking books, and then make model labels to be followed in marking fiction, classed books, reference books, juveniles, magazines, etc., so that the same kinds of combinations of letters and figures will always be written in the same way.
[CHAPTER VII]
Pamphlets
The subject of the care of pamphlets in a library does not come within the field of these notes; but it may be proper to say that experience and observation have led me to the conclusion that many pamphlets are bound and entered in the catalog which are not worth the labor they have entailed. How those should be kept that are thought worth keeping I do not attempt to say. Often those kept are not worth keeping, and still oftener those bound and catalogued are not worth binding. If they are bound, the style of binding they should receive, if they are in fact books in paper covers, is to be decided by the same rules as is the same question in regard to other books. If they are in fact pamphlets—a few pages with no cover, and must stand on the shelf and will be little used, a cheap binding may be made thus: Take off the cover; fold once a sheet of stout paper to the pamphlet’s size; cut two boards for covers, a little narrower than the pamphlet; paste them to the paper mentioned about half an inch apart; paste a strip of book cloth down the back and over the edges of the boards; paste the cover to the boards, front and back; sew the pamphlet into the case thus roughly made with stout thread through three or five holes along the back (this last process is called stabbing); trim. This is simple, strong and inexpensive.
If the pamphlet consists of one signature only the method just described can be followed; but the sewing should be through the back, a saddlestitch, with the knot inside. The binder’s knot or stitch is thus made: Having three holes for the thread, go first down through the center one, back through one of the end holes, down again through the other end hole, up through the center, and tie the two ends over the thread which passes from end hole to end hole. With five holes the process is similar and easily followed.