(Friday, June 28, 8:15 p. m.)
The first session of the College and Reference section was held on the evening of June 28, in the banquet room of the Chateau Laurier, about 75 people being present. In the absence of Dr. A. S. Root, chairman of the section, and Miss Irene Warren, secretary, the meeting was called to order by Mr. P. L. Windsor, who had at the request of Dr. Root and of Mr. Utley, arranged the program; Mr. S. J. Brandenburg acted as secretary.
Mr. THEODORE W. KOCH, librarian of the University of Michigan, read the first paper entitled
SOME PHASES OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES[8]
The development of college and university libraries has been so rapid during the past score of years that it may be worth while to turn back for a moment and collect a few illustrations of early ideas of library management from the history of the older universities. The most interesting ones for this purpose are those of Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard, Yale and Columbia universities.
[8] Abridged from an address delivered before the New York State Library School and the University of Michigan Summer Library School.
The Bodleian in its reorganized form was opened in 1602 with a stock of two thousand five hundred volumes—a fairly large collection for those days. It had been established in Duke Humphrey's day in a suite of rooms over the Divinity School "far removed" as the old university records put it, "from any worldly noise." The first rules for the government of the library were drafted by Bodley himself. While in general they were wise ones, they reflected the spirit of the times in which they were written. Sir Thomas objected to the inclusion of belles-lettres as beneath the dignity of the institution he was fostering. "I can see no good reason," said he, "to alter my rule for excluding such books as Almanacks, Plays, and an infinite number that are daily printed of very unworthy matters. Haply some plays may be worthy the keeping—but hardly one in forty.... This is my opinion, wherein if I err I shall err with infinite others; and the more I think upon it, the more it doth distaste me that such kinds of books should be vouchsafed room in so noble a library." Scholars were required to leave a deposit in cash as a pledge of good faith when borrowing books, but the deposit was usually a mere trifle compared with the value of the loan. Unscrupulous borrowers willingly forfeited the money and kept the manuscripts. Some volumes were stolen, while others were entered in the catalog as "missing," a distinction with perhaps very little difference. Tradition says that Polidore Virgil had stolen so many books that the authorities were finally compelled to deny him access to the library, whereupon he promptly obtained from Henry VIII a special license to borrow whatever manuscripts he desired and the librarian had to bow to the ruling of the King.
In a manuscript copy of the works of St. Augustine and St. Ambrose in the Bodleian, is written, "This book belongs to St. Mary of Robert's Bridge: Whosoever steals it, or sells it, or takes it away from this house in any way, or injures it, let him be anathema maranatha." Underneath another hand has written, "I, John, Bishop of Exeter, do not know where the said house is: I did not steal this book, but got it lawfully."
At one time folios in the Bodleian were chained to the shelves but the custom was given up and the chains sold for old iron in 1769. That the arrangements at the Bodleian were viewed with favor by library benefactors can be seen from a letter which the worthy John Hollis of London, second founder of Harvard College library, sent to the authorities at Cambridge in 1735: "You want seats to sit and read in and chains to your valuable books like our Bodleian library or Zion College in London. You let your books be taken at pleasure to men's houses and many are lost, your boyish students take them to their chambers and tear out pictures and maps to adorn their walls."
Gibbon in his autobiography has commented upon the sloth of 18th century Oxford and its absolute indifference to study. The records of the Bodleian substantiate the low point to which the intellectual life of the university had ebbed. The registers of books borrowed for the decade 1730-1740 show that only rarely were more than one or two books asked for in a day. In some cases a whole week is passed over without a single entry being made. The indifference throughout the university showed itself in the management of the library. For 92 years, that is, from 1768-1860, the Bodleian was so unfortunate as to be in the hands of only two men, the Reverend John Price, of Jesus College, who died in his eightieth year, and Dr. Bulkeley Bandinel, his son-in-law, who lived to be even a year older than his predecessor. As an illustration of Price's ideas of librarianship we have it noted by Professor Beddoes that "he discouraged readers by neglect and incivility, was very careless in regard to the value or condition of the books he purchased, and had little knowledge of foreign publications." When Captain Cook's Voyages were first published there was quite a demand for the work. Librarian Price promptly loaned it to the Rector of Lincoln College, telling him that the longer he kept it out the better, for as long as it was known to be in the library he would be perpetually plagued by inquiries after it. Price has been compared to the verger who sorrowfully complained that people were continually invading his church and "praying all over the place." However, it must in justice be said that Price's correspondence as printed by John Nichols in his "Illustrations of the literary history of the 18th century," shows him to have been helpful to some of the scholars of his day.