The Library Assistant's Manual

by Theodore Wesley Koch

The key note of the whole public library movement in America was struck by Ticknor when in 1851 he wrote of his hopes for the new library proposed for Boston: “I would establish a library which differs from all free libraries yet attempted; I mean one in which any popular books, tending to moral and intellectual improvement, shall be furnished in such numbers of copies that many persons can be reading the same book at the same time; in short, that not only the best books of all sorts, but the pleasant literature of the day, shall be made accessible to the whole people when they most care for it, that is, when it is fresh and new.”

A timely friend was found in Joshua Bates, who gave more than $50,000 for the purchase of books, saying that he thought it was desirable to render the public library at once as useful as possible by providing it with a large collection of books in many departments of knowledge.

Thus the aim of the founders was quickly realized, it having been their professed intention to make the library what no other library in the world had either attempted or desired to become, “a powerful and direct means for the intellectual and moral advancement of a whole people without distinction of class or condition.” The Boston Public Library was the pioneer of the large public libraries in America and as such has long enjoyed a prominence which in a way has resulted in its differentiation from other large municipal institutions.

Astor Library.—John Jacob Astor, who came to this country in 1783, as a young man of 20, independent of capital, family connections or influence, became the richest man of his day in the United States, and wished to show his feelings of gratitude towards the city of New York, in which he had lived so long and prospered. When he consulted with his friends, Fitz Green Halleck and Washington Irving among others, as to the object to which his liberality should be applied, the plan of building a public library was the most approved and a decision was promptly made in favor of it. Four hundred thousand dollars was left for this purpose. The site chosen for the new Astor Library was in Lafayette Place, in which street lived Mr. William B. Astor, a son of the donor. Washington Irving was the first president of the Board of Trustees, and Joseph G. Cogswell was the first librarian. According to John Hill Burton in the “Book hunter,” Mr. Cogswell “spent some years in Europe with Mr. Astor’s princely endowment in his pocket, and showed himself a judicious, active and formidable sportsman in the book-hunting world. Whenever from private collections or the breaking up of public institutions, rarities got abroad in the open market, the collectors of the old world found that they had a resolute competitor to deal with, almost, it might be said, a desperate one, since he was, in a manner, the representative of a nation using powerful efforts to get a share of the library treasures of the old world. I know that in the instance of the Astor Library the selections of the books have been made with great judgment and that after the boundaries of the common crowded markets were passed and individual rarities had to be stalked in distant hunting grounds, innate literary value was still held as an object more important than mere abstract rarity, and, as the more worthy quality of the two, that on which the buying power available to the emissary was brought to bear.” Cogswell was essentially a bibliophile. He loved books “with an eager and grasping love,” said Donald G. Mitchell. To his fruitful labor was due the splendid growth of the Astor collections. Cogswell presented to the Library his own collection of bibliographical literature, and gave the institution a reputation for wealth in this field. “So well has the impress thus imparted been maintained,” said Dr. Richard Garnett, “that the Astor Library is said to contain hardly any light and frivolous books.” Both the son and grandson of the founder, as well as other members of the Astor family, added generously to the wealth of the institution so that today the total endowment is estimated at over two million dollars. With its increase in resources came an increase in its use. “I range daily in the alcoves of the Astor, more charming than the gardens of Boccaccio, and each hour a Decameron,” wrote Charles Sumner to Theodore Parker. Among the constant users was Horace Greeley, who had a special table reserved for himself.

Lenox Library.—James Lenox, a shy recluse, a bachelor, born to a wealthy inheritance, found his chief joy in the collecting of books, manuscripts, and objets d’art. He first collected early editions of the Bible in all languages; then Americana, including the original editions of the works of the great travelers and discoverers. John Bunyan and Milton received much attention from Mr. Lenox, and he succeeded in garnering a vast array of editions of those two authors. “This mode of collecting has certainly its advantages,” said Henry Stevens, “but it can hardly be denied that it is attended with serious disadvantages. The result of all Mr. Lenox’s enormous study and labor, to say nothing of his vast expenditures, it must be confessed, is a patchy library as he left it. His favorite subjects and authors he rendered astonishingly rich, but the subjects and authors he neglected at the same time are also astonishingly numerous.” In 1870 Mr. Lenox presented the collection to the city of New York, together with a block on Fifth Avenue and a sufficient fund to erect a library building.

Tilden Bequest.—Samuel J. Tilden was not, according to his biographer, John Bigelow, a book collector in the ordinary sense of the term. “Mr. Tilden had a very fastidious taste for books, which he indulged without much regard to expense. He bought books for his immediate use and enjoyment, and apparently with no thought of collecting a library that should be complete in any department.” For the purpose of establishing and maintaining a free library and reading room in the city of New York he established the “Tilden Trust,” to which he bequeathed the sum of nearly four million dollars. By long litigation it was reduced about one-half. The trustees were anxious to apply this fund in a way that should prove most advantageous to the people of New York City and at the same time strictly conform to the wishes of the testator. The endowment was accordingly offered to the Municipal Building Committee of the city in 1893, to be devoted to the construction of a public library in a new City Hall, at that time planned for Bryant Park. This plan had to be given up the next year when the act authorizing the removal of the old City Hall was repealed, but the expectations of the testator were carried out later by merging the Tilden Trust with the Astor and Lenox bequests into one grand “New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.” This consolidation was effected on May 23, 1895, when the Board of Trustees, composed of seven members from each of the three foundations, proceeded to plan the organization of a comprehensive library system. An appeal to the municipal authorities was made in 1896 stating that if the city would furnish a proper site and provide the money to locate thereon a building suitable for the purposes of the New York Public Library, then the library through the sale of its present sites, could obtain such an addition to its funds as would justify it in providing for the circulation of the books from this main building. The result was that the library was granted the old reservoir ground on Fifth Avenue, between 40th and 42nd Streets, and the trustees were enabled to begin planning for the erection of the splendid fireproof structure, eventually opened to the public in 1911.

New York Public Library.—The union of these three corporations to form a single library worthy of the great American metropolis was very justly characterized by Lawrence Hutton as “one of the most important events in the whole history of the Island of Manhattan.” New York had long labored under the disadvantage of having no public library from which books could be freely borrowed by her citizens. Dr. Cogswell once remarked that a free circulating library in New York was impossible and that in five years any collection of books made for that purpose would be scattered forever beyond hope of recovery. He here showed the distrust of the book-collector and the attitude of the old style librarian towards the books entrusted to his care.

The Astor and the Lenox Libraries were for reference use only, and were never open in the evenings or on holidays. Through the great generosity of Andrew Carnegie the New York Public Library is able to operate an extensive series of branches, primarily intended for the purposes of circulating books in the surrounding neighborhoods. “The main purpose of the library is educational,” said the late Dr. J. S. Billings. “It is also to furnish the means of recreation and amusement to large numbers of readers. A great library like this must be omniverous. It must have rare and costly books, indispensable to scholars, and also the ephemeral pamphlets of the day which have no commercial value when they appear but eventually become historical documents. The library should be an encyclopedia always kept up to date.”

The Spread of Public Libraries.—From the above sketches some idea can be gained as to how recent is the development of the library into the tax-supported institution we know to-day. The last generation has witnessed the spread of the public library movement westward at such a rate that many of the most striking illustrations of the usefulness of the modern library are to be gathered from the newer libraries of the western states. Within the last two decades the public library has gained strong allies in such new organizations as state library commissions, inter-state library associations, and library training schools. The library schools have inculcated into their students the body of America’s library doctrine which has grown up with the movement in this country. The association meetings have been helpful in providing for the discussion of mooted topics and giving librarianship a unity which it could not otherwise have gained.

American Library Association.—Organized in 1876 to promote the welfare of libraries; it had the Library Journal as its official organ for many years, but now publishes its own Bulletin containing announcements and proceedings of the annual meeting. The Association aims to effect needed legislation and reforms which could not be brought about by individual effort; to improve library administration and lessen the labor and expense of it; to utilize the combined experience of the profession, to promote esprit de corps among library workers and to advance the common interests of trustees, librarians and assistants. Various sections have been organized: the college and reference section, catalog section, trustees’ section, library work with children and state library commissions. It has a publishing board of five members, appointed by the executive board, the aim of which is to secure and prepare publications, catalogs, indexes and other bibliographic and library aids. The publications are a great help to libraries and references are made to a number of them throughout this manual. The headquarters of the Association are located on the upper floor of the Chicago Public Library. Address: 78 E. Washington St.