Such a presentation will enable the librarian, the reference attendant, the cataloger or the classifier to perform his work with an assurance and a facility that can be acquired in no other way. He will be acting under expert advice. The special points to be brought out will be presented to the lecturer beforehand; he will prepare his statement, deliver it, and later answers inquiries which may have arisen. We all know how much easier it is to ask somebody about something than it is to look it up in some book. Let questions be noted as they occur and the class be given a chance to ask them of an authority.

These lectures or talks need not and should not be confined to student class rooms. Let them be public lectures which library workers outside the school may attend upon payment of a small fee. The intrinsic interest of a lecture upon some topic of the day whether literary, historical, political, or scientific, would attract in a way that a course upon pure bibliography can never do. As our library schools are so integrally a part, as a rule, of some system of collegiate instruction, there should be no difficulty in securing the services of different members of the faculty. I may repeat also that no more useful program of work for a library club during a season could be planned than a course of just such talks as I have described. To tell the truth, the matter of this paper first occurred to me in its bearings upon the work of library clubs. To them and to the directors of our library schools it is presented for their consideration.

Following this the representatives of the various library schools were asked to describe the

WORK OFFERED IN BIBLIOGRAPHY AT THE LIBRARY SCHOOLS.

Mr. Biscoe described the work at Albany, running through two years, the first being taken up with trade bibliography and the second with reference work and subject bibliography. The large resources of the New York State Library enable the students to see, study and use almost all books taken up and the work is accompanied with many problems. Further elective work is also offered to students desiring to specialize along this line.

Miss Plummer spoke for the Pratt Institute School. During the first year a general course of instruction in bibliography is offered, beginning with trade bibliography, students being referred to the leading works of reference in English, French and German through lectures and problems given during the year. Each student is required to prepare a reading list on a selected subject, requiring considerable research work, which must be satisfactory to the instructor. The leading national and subject bibliographies are included in the lectures, and the problems frequently require consultation of these. Ten lectures are given on the history of books and printing. This is merely an outline course offered partly that students may discover any latent inclination toward the historical course, that they may know there is that side to their work. "In the special lessons in French and German cataloging which we expect to undertake this fall," she said, "a study of foreign catalogs will be a prominent feature, and the students will collect for themselves a vocabulary of bibliographical terms in these languages. In the broad sense of the term bibliography, as we find it in the 'Century dictionary,' the subject is fairly well covered by the second year's historical course. Through the courtesy of the New York Public Library the class has had opportunity to do most of its work at the Lenox Library where there is a fine collection of reference books. The course begins with a study of reference books on the history of printing, bibliographies of the 15th century, etc., and books such as Hain, Panzer, etc., and the more general bibliographies, e.g., Brunet, Graesse. The history of bookmaking is studied from the period of the manuscript through the 15th century, and some work with American and other books has been done each year. The materials used in the earliest times, the methods of production and the steps leading to the invention of printing are all treated. The history of printing is studied by country, town, and printer, chronologically, and a study of the types used by different printers is made. For practical work the class catalogs 15th century books. The books used for consultation in this course have been very numerous, and perhaps a good working knowledge of them has been the most important feature of the work. The class was not and could not be limited to books in English, but used and in part translated books of reference in foreign languages. In the work with manuscripts the historical course depends upon instruction given by Prof. Egbert, professor of Latin palæography of Columbia University, who has made up a course especially adapted to the object of our work and to the time we have to give. Twenty-three lectures, only a few of which are devoted to the bibliography of the subject, comprise the instruction, two hours' work outside being necessary on each lecture. Much more is usually done by the students, who generally live in New York city while taking the historical course. The study of successive handwritings and abbreviations as illustrated by blue-prints furnished by the professor, leads naturally to early printed books, whose types were modelled after the handwriting of the period. Reports of the work of this class have been very satisfactory."

Miss Kroeger, of the Drexel Institute Library School, described a course of 15 lectures on the history of books and printing, given at her school.

The lectures embrace the following subjects:

I. The development of language, oral and written. Ancient systems of writing. Derivation of the English alphabet. The preservation of literature. Earliest forms of permanent records, literature, books, and libraries in the ancient civilizations of the east.
II. The literatures of Greece and Rome. The book in the classical age. Alexandria as a literary center. Barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire. Decline and extinction of ancient culture. Destruction of books and libraries.
III. The book in the Middle Ages. The preservation and the production of books in the monasteries. Development of the illuminated manuscript. The early Renascence in its relation to literature and books.
IV. The later Renascence: revival of learning. Recovery of ancient literature. Rome, Florence, and Venice as the centers of activity. Multiplication of manuscripts. The formation of modern libraries.
V. The art of engraving as the precursor of printing. The invention and diffusion of printing. The chief centers and the great masters of printing. The printed book and its influence upon civilization.
VI. Book illustration in ancient, medieval, and modern times.
VII. Books and libraries in Europe and the United States. Types of modern public libraries.
VIII. Makers and lovers of books, and their libraries.

Miss Sharp told of the instruction in bibliography given to the students in University of Illinois Library School by the professors at the university. Several of the professors give lectures on the bibliography of their various subjects; a subject is assigned to the students before the lecture, they are required to examine bibliographies, reviews, and the books themselves, as far as accessible in the library, and to select ten books which they would buy first for a library of 10,000 vols. This selection is criticised by the professor, who meets the class, gives them an outline of his subject, speaks of the principles of selection, mentions the writers who are considered authorities, and calls to the attention of the students valuable material not to be found in the trade lists. This is in the first year; in the second year the professors give their lectures first and the class will select their books for criticism afterwards. The professors have given most generous co-operation in the work; but their work has been uneven and many of them fail to catch the librarian's and bibliographer's point of view, and most of them acknowledge that their studies are limited to the advanced works, so that they do not know what to recommend for the small public libraries.