This distinction is not a sharp one, yet it produces wide divergence in the point of view, and in the practice of these two classes of libraries. A comparison of the third contribution to this symposium with the first and second will make this matter evident. Both points of view are accurate, and varieties of practice, provided only that they exist among the members of a comprehensive system, are the best guarantees of the ultimate achievement of great results.
C. H. GOULD, Chairman.
I.
The purpose of inter-library loans is to make available the unusual material in one library to an enquirer who cannot visit it in person and does not find available the identical material in some institution nearer at hand or which has a nearer constitutional duty to serve him. The service to him must be subject to the convenience of the constituency of the lending library and can be expected only if the risk and expense of it shall be met by the borrowing library in his behalf.
1. It is not to be expected therefore that a library will lend either (1) books which if not in the applicant library, are within the ordinary duty of the latter to supply; or (2) books in constant use among its own readers; or (3) books for the general reader as against the investigator.
2. It is not to be expected that material will be sought the transportation of which, even with the best precautions, involves a necessary injury,—as for instance, by strain,—or a contingent injury in its use outside of the walls of the institution owning it by persons over whose use it has no supervision. A stipulation for its use within the walls of the borrowing library, while entirely reasonable, may not cover the case completely, as the responsibility for the care of the material cannot, by a mere stipulation for care, be transferred from the owning to the borrowing library.
3. Subject to 2, the important service in inter-library loans being to make generally available the unusual book for the unusual need of the serious investigator, the fact that the book needed is either rare, or part of a set which may be marred by the loss of a single volume, or that it is even unique, as for instance a manuscript, ought not to be conclusive against the loan, for it is just through such material that the inter-library loans may render their most important service.
4. The applicant library should refrain from applying (a) for ordinary books which are within its constitutional duty to supply to its immediate readers, or (b) for unusual books requested for a purpose which it knows to be trivial, or by a person of whose discretion and seriousness it is not assured, or (c) for books which, within the legitimate provisions of a loan are to be had from some institution nearer at hand, or having a nearer constitutional duty to it and to the constituency which it serves, or (d) for books which upon their face must be in constant use in any library possessing them.
5. The lending library may reasonably stipulate: (a) That the entire cost of the service shall be met by the borrowing library, and may look to this library alone as responsible both for the safety and prompt return of the material and for the replacement of the material if lost or damaged, and (b) it may reasonably include as part of the expense: (1) packing; (2) carriage; (3) insurance; (4) the fraction, if estimable, which the particular loan should bear of the expense of administering the service. (c) As to the duration of the loan: that it shall not exceed the period of its local loans, with an allowance added for the transit both ways; and the lender may reasonably couple with this a right of summary recall. It may also impose penalties for delays in returning material, or for carelessness in its use or in repacking. It may of course reserve the right to decline further loans to a library which has shown indifference in these regards, or whose applications have been incessantly frivolous. (d) It may of course limit the number of volumes lent to any one library or for the use of any one investigator at any one time. (e) It may, without prejudicing applications from other institutions, deny the application of any particular library, because of lack of assurance as to the safety or intelligent use of the material if lent. Its decisions in this regard resting often upon the impressions of a general experience, ought to be unembarrassed. It should not therefore be called upon to explain them.
HERBERT PUTNAM.