The twelve essential rules for the management of the library are:
1. Arrange your books on their shelves into classes, according to the subjects they treat of.
2. Put everything in its proper place.
3. Always keep directories, peerages, gazetteers, atlases, county maps, and lexicons in convenient and easily got at places. It will often save much time and trouble to keep them in book slides on the table, or in a separate bookcase.
4. Write your name and address in a large bold handwriting on the fly-leaf of every volume.
5. If you have your books specially bound, let the same style and colour of binding be used for one class of books.
6. Never allow animals in a library. They are apt to do serious mischief to MSS. and books, while chasing some imaginary rat. Newton had the results of many years of hard brain work completely destroyed through the pranks of his favourite little dog.
7. Keep servants out of the library, except at stated intervals, and, when admitted, let them be under your personal supervision. Everybody will remember that the first part of Carlyle’s ‘History of the French Revolution,’ while yet in MS., was used by a servant to light a fire.
8. Avoid dampness or excessive heat; books require warm dry air, in order to preserve their bindings. Thus it will be seen that the more the books are read the better it will be for the books.
9. On no account let the library be turned into a refreshment room for a juvenile party.