Framed signs of the library as Bureau of Information, placed in public places, are good permanent advertisements. Personal visits to the places where questions are being asked—the post office, the railroad, telegraph, newspaper and express offices, and the suggestion that those in charge send to the public library all inquiries they do not wish to be troubled with or can not satisfy, will turn many people toward the library.
If it is the item of expense that stands in the way of business work in your library, have you considered possible economies in other lines? Why not discontinue a certain fashion magazine and add a financial one? Turn down an order for a history of the court of Queen Anne and buy a good history of Wall Street. Get along without that valuable but expensive book on the ancient civilization of the Egyptians and buy a directory of the manufacturers of the world. Deny your worthy scholars the latest commentary on Plato and get your business men the latest book on accountancy. Sacrifice an historical or classical atlas and secure the best maps of your own locality. Decide against the Portuguese dictionary and buy a cable code. Cancel the order for so-and-so's travels in British Guiana and subscribe for the Official Railway Guide.
Here are suggestions for a few resources to be used in meeting business inquiries of a general order, such as come to a library that advertises itself as a Bureau of Information, and some things we have found useful in business work:
1. The latest edition of the city directory, directories of local towns, of the capitol of the state, and of the largest cities of the United States. An exchange of directories one year old with other public libraries has proved quite satisfactory. It increases your resources, and the fact that you ask for year-old directories from local business houses for the purpose of exchange is a good advertisement of the library's business side. The cost of sending a 5-lb. directory to any part of the United States by book-rate express is about fifty cents.
If you cannot afford directories, get telephone books from the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., New York City, at prices ranging from 35 to 50 cents. Many of these contain classified sections. A classified telephone directory of New York may be obtained free by writing to Mr. Reuben J. Donnelly, 37 Fulton Street, New York City.
2. The very best local maps. To spend $30 on a real estate atlas may seem extravagant; but such atlases are usually issued at intervals of 6 to 10 years, and will prove one of the most useful sources of local information.
3. The Official Railway Guide. If the library cannot afford to pay $8.00 a year for it, get a month-old copy from the local railway office. It contains the most complete list of U. S. towns in print and is of value as a gazetteer and in many other ways.
4. The Western Union A. B. C. and Lieber Cable Codes are the only general codes in use. They cost about $32.00.
5. A table for displaying catalogs of business book publishers. This will increase the use of business books and lead to many good recommendations by visitors.
6. A monthly magazine, "Business News," of the Business Book Bureau of New York. It indexes articles in the principal business magazines and lists the important new business books.