SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT, AND THE REFERENCE DEPARTMENT AS A BUREAU OF INFORMATION
What we call "reference work" has been a little in disrepute of late, and there has been some discussion as to the amount of time which may legitimately be spent in helping the curious inquirer to learn how many of the Louis's died a natural death, or whether Helen of Troy wore locks of Titian red. But it is only in the large library that there can be any limitation of what we call the reference department to the handling of such academic quibbles. It is true that in the large library the technical department, the business branch, the art department may limit and thin the quality of work left to the reference librarian, till she (or he) may feel that only the dry bones of the day's research are hers (or his). But in the small library there is no such limitation, and the reference librarian, who may also be the head librarian and the chief cataloger, may come in touch each day with every sort of human interest, from the eager desire of the office clerk to get back to the soil by the road of raising rice in Arkansas or apples in Idaho, to the yearning for economic independence and artistic expression in the soul of the girl who comes to pore over books on design.
To one who is fully awake to the human side of things, there can never be any dull monotony in the life of the reference librarian. I have often wished I had time—and genius—to write the Romance of a Reference Library. It would cover as many pages, and be almost as thrilling as the Thousand-and-One-Nights. I wish I had time to tell you, the Molly-Make-Believe Episode of Goodwyn Institute library, or the Tale of the Telegram from the Nicaragua Revolution.
Now in the small library where one reference assistant must be so many things to so many people in the course of one day, there is special need of scientific management of time, labor, methods, resources. Fortunately, the reference assistant has few statistics to trouble with. The only record that seems essential is that of questions asked and topics looked up. A pad of paper, dated, kept at one's elbow, and questions jotted down almost as they are being asked—this gives an interesting basis for monthly and yearly reports, and makes something to show for the day's work much more interesting than mere figures, and does furnish certain figures, especially if we add, after each topic, approximate number of books, pamphlets and magazines used in getting information or material desired.
From these daily sheets interesting deductions can be made, classifications of different kinds and sources of questions asked, what classes of people are users and which are non-users of the library, on what lines the library needs to build up its resources, in what directions it needs to advertise better. Red pencil checks may be placed against more significant topics, for quick summarization at the end of the month. If the question is for school or club work, or likely to recur again, take a pencil and small pad, write Panama canal tolls or labor laws affecting women, or whatever the subject may be, at the top of the pad, and make rapid note of magazine articles, books, etc., looked up. Much time is lost in looking up the same things over and over again, sometimes by one assistant, and sometimes by another. Lists jotted roughly down while material is being looked up, or directly after, may be copied by typewriter on catalog cards and filed alphabetically in a special tray of the catalog case, where they will be quickly available for the next call. For debates, the material listed on cards should be grouped roughly under "general," "affirmative" and "negative." It saves time, also, in collecting books on the reserve shelf for a debate, to mark the places by clipping to the page a slip labelled "affirmative" or "negative." Of course, for debate work the first aid to scientific management is the use, so far as possible, of the work done by others in such invaluable little manuals as the Debaters' Hand-Book series, and the debate pamphlets of the Universities of Wisconsin, Texas, Iowa and others, supplemented by the latest magazine articles in the Readers' Guide.[11]
[11] A brief list, entitled "Debaters' Aids," was distributed in connection with this paper.
The same economic principle applies, of course, to every other class of subjects looked up. Make use of work done by others, whether in the form of bibliographies, indexes, reports and publications of special organizations, or what not. Two small indexes which save much time in the small library are the Pittsburgh Library Debate Index and their Contemporary Biography. Though the latter is now ten years old it is still extremely useful to those libraries which are so fortunate as to own copies.
Another economy of time and money is the using of book-lists printed by other libraries or organizations, checking on them the titles in one's own library, putting the library stamp upon them, and distributing them to the class of users interested. Goodwyn Institute library has recently done this with the booklet entitled: "What to read on business efficiency," issued by the Business Book Bureau of New York.
An important psychological point is always to get one good piece of material before each researcher promptly, then other material may be gathered more deliberately. If several people are waiting at once, give each one reference to start on rather than serve one in detail while all others wait their turn. Perhaps this is a small and obvious trifle to dwell upon, but it is a bromidium that trifles make success, in reference work as in anything else.
Returning to the wisdom of using others' work, I must emphasize the importance of collecting the material put out by all sorts of special organizations. We know that every subject now has its literature, from "votes for women" to the extermination of the house fly or the loan shark. And much of this matter, often in pamphlet or leaflet form, is obtainable free or at small