The total number of borrowers enrolled in 1910 was[11] about 2,200,000, 59% males and 41% females, 48% under 20 years of age and 52% over 20. Industrial and commercial occupations were followed by 49% of the borrowers, the balance of 51% being domestic, professional, unstated, and including 20% of students and scholars. To these borrowers 60,000,000 vols. are circulated every year for home-reading, and of this large number 54% represented fiction, including juvenile literature. The Reference libraries issued over 11,000,000 vols., exclusive of books consulted at open shelves, and to the Reading-rooms, Magazines, Newspapers, Directories, Time-tables, &c., allowing only one consultation for each visit, 85,000,000 visits are made per annum. Allowing 5% for the reading of fiction in current magazines, it appears that the percentage of fiction read in British municipal libraries, taking into account the work of every issuing or consulting department, is only about 24%. This fact should be carefully recorded, as in the past municipal libraries have suffered in the esteem of all sections of the public, by being erroneously described as mere centres for the distribution of common novels. The quality of the fiction selected is the best obtainable, and, as shown above, it is not read to an unreasonable or unnecessary extent.
The changes in character, policy and methods which have marked library administration in the United Kingdom, have affected libraries of all kinds, but on the whole the municipal libraries have been most active in the promotion of improvements. It is evident, moreover, even to the most casual observer, that a complete revolution in library practice has been effected since 1882, not only in the details of administration, but in the initiation of ideas and experiments. One of the most notable changes has been the gradual disappearance of the unclassified library. Previous to 1882 very little had been accomplished in the way of scientific classification schemes equipped with suitable notations, although the Decimal method of Mr Melvil Dewey had been applied in the United States. After that date this system began to be adopted for reference departments in British municipal libraries, till in 1910 at least 120 places had been classified by means of the scheme. An English scheme, called the “Adjustable,” with a notation, but not fully expanded, has been adopted in 53 places, and a very complete and minute scheme called the “Subject,” also English, has been used in nearly 40 libraries, although it only dates from 1906. That much remains to be accomplished in this direction is indicated by the fact that over 340 municipal libraries were in 1910 not closely classified, but only arranged in broad numerical or alphabetical divisions. The adoption of exact schemes of classification for books in libraries may be said to double their utility almost mechanically, and in course of time an unclassified municipal library will be unknown. The other kinds of library—state, subscription, university, &c.—are very often not classified, but some use the Decimal system, while others, like the Patent Office, have systems peculiar to themselves.
The catalogue, as a means of making known the contents of books, has also undergone a succession of changes, both in policy and mechanical construction. At one period, before access to the shelves and other methods of making known the contents of libraries had become general, the printed catalogue was relied upon as practically the sole guide to the books. Many excellent examples of such catalogues exist, in author, subject and classified form, and some of them are admirable contributions to bibliography. Within recent years, however, doubts have arisen in many quarters, both in Europe and America, as to the wisdom of printing the catalogues of general popular libraries which possess comparatively few rare or extraordinary books. A complete catalogue of such a library is out of date the moment it is printed, and in many cases the cost is very great, while only a small number is sold. For these and other reasons, modern libraries have begun to compile complete catalogues only in MS. form, and to issue comparatively cheap class-lists at intervals, supplemented by monthly or quarterly bulletins or lists of recent accessions, which in combination will answer most of the questions likely to be put to a catalogue. Various improvements in the mechanical construction of manuscript catalogues have contributed to popularize them, and many libraries use the card, sheaf and other systems which allow constant and infinite intercalation coupled with economy and ease in making additions.
The idea of using separate slips or cards for cataloguing books, in order to obtain complete powers of arrangement and revision is not new, having been applied during the French revolutionary period to the cataloguing of libraries. More recently the system has been applied to various commercial purposes, such as book-keeping by what is known as the “loose-leaf ledger,” and in this way greater public attention has been directed to the possibilities of adjustable methods both in libraries and for business. The card system is perhaps the most generally used at present, but many improvements in the adjustable binders, called by librarians the “sheaf system,” will probably result in this latter form becoming a serious rival. The card method consists of a series of cards in alphabetical or other order kept on edge in trays or drawers, to which projecting guides are added in order to facilitate reference. Entries are usually made on one side of the card, and one card serves for a single entry. The sheaf method provides for slips of an uniform size being kept in book form in volumes capable of being opened by means of a screw or other fastening, for the purpose of adding or withdrawing slips. In addition to the advantage of being in book-form the sheaf system allows both sides of a slip to be used, while in many cases from two to twelve entries may be made on one slip. This is a great economy and leads to considerable saving of space. A great advantage resulting from the use of an adjustable manuscript catalogue, in whatever form adopted, is the simplicity with which it can be kept up-to-date. This is an advantage which in the view of many librarians outweighs the undoubted valuable qualities of comparative safety and multiplication of copies possessed by the printed form. There are many different forms of both card and sheaf systems, and practically every library now uses one or other of them for cataloguing or indexing purposes.
One other modification in connexion with the complete printed catalogue has been tried with success, and seems worthy of brief mention. After a complete manuscript catalogue has been provided in sheaf form, a select or eclectic catalogue is printed, comprising all the most important books in the library and those that represent special subjects. This, when supplemented by a printed list or bulletin of additions, seems to supply every need.
The most striking tendency of the modern library movement is the great increase in the freedom allowed to readers both in reference and lending departments. Although access to the shelves was quite a common feature in the older subscription libraries, and in state libraries like the British Museum and Patent Office, it is only within comparatively recent years that lending library borrowers were granted a similar privilege. Most municipal reference libraries grant access to a large or small collection of books, and at Cambridge, Birmingham and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the practice is of long standing. So also in the United States, practically every library has its open shelf collection. On the continent of Europe, however, this method is not at all general, and books are guarded with a jealousy which in many cases must militate against their utility. The first “safe-guarded” open access municipal lending library was opened at Clerkenwell (now Finsbury), London, in 1893, and since then over one hundred cities and districts of all sizes in Britain have adopted the system. The British municipal libraries differ considerably from those of the United States in the safeguards against abuse which are employed, and the result is that their losses are insignificant, whilst in America they are sometimes enormous. Pawtucket and Cleveland in America were pioneers to some extent of the open shelf system for lending libraries, but the methods employed had little resemblance to the safe-guarded system of British libraries. The main features of the British plan are: exact classification; class, shelf and book guiding; the provision of automatic locking wickets to regulate the entrance and exit of borrowers, and the rule that borrowers must be registered before they can obtain admission. This last rule is not always current in America, and in consequence abuses are liable to take place. The great majority of British and American libraries, whether allowing open access or not, use cards for charging or registering books loaned to borrowers. In the United Kingdom a considerable number of places still use indicators for this purpose, although this mechanical method is gradually being restricted to fiction, save in very small places.
Other activities of modern libraries which are common to both Britain and America are courses of lectures, book exhibitions, work with children, provision of books for the blind and for foreign residents, travelling libraries and the education of library assistants. In many of the recent buildings, especially in those erected from the gifts of Mr Andrew Carnegie, special rooms for lectures and exhibitions and children are provided. Courses of lectures in connexion with the Liverpool and Manchester public libraries date from 1860, but during the years 1900-1910 there was a very great extension of this work. As a rule these courses are intended to direct attention to the literature of the subjects treated, as represented in the libraries, and in this way a certain amount of mutual advantage is secured. In some districts the libraries work in association with the education authorities, and thus it is rendered possible to keep schools supplied with books, over which the teachers are able to exercise supervision. This connexion between libraries and schools is much less common in the United Kingdom than in the British colonies and the United States, where the libraries are regarded as part of the national system of education. Excellent work has been accomplished within recent years by the Library Association in the training of librarians, and it is usual for about 300 candidates to come forward annually for examination in literary history, bibliography, classification, cataloguing, library history and library routine for which subjects certificates and diplomas are awarded. The profession of municipal librarian is not by any means remunerative as compared with employment in teaching or in the Civil Service, and until the library rate is increased there is little hope of improvement.
The usefulness of public libraries has been greatly increased by the work of the Library Association, founded in 1877, during the first International Library Conference held in London in October 1877. A charter of incorporation was granted to the association in 1898. It holds monthly and annual meetings, publishes a journal, conducts examinations, issues certificates, holds classes for instruction, and has greatly helped to improve the public library law. The Library Assistants Association (1895) publishes a journal. A second International Library Conference was held at London in 1897, and a third at Brussels in 1910. Library associations have been started in most of the countries of Europe, and the American Library Association, the largest and most important in existence, was established in 1876. These associations are giving substantial aid in the development and improvement of library methods and the status of librarians, and it is certain that their influence will in time produce a more scientific and valuable type of library than at present generally exists.
British Colonies and India.
The majority of the British Colonies and Dependencies have permissive library laws on lines very similar to those in force in the mother country. There are, however, several points of difference which are worth mention. The rate limit is not so strict in every case, and an effort is made to bring the libraries into closer relations with the educational machinery of each colony. There is, for example, no rate limit in Tasmania; and South Australia may raise a library rate equivalent to 3d. in the £, although, in both cases, owing to the absence of large towns, the legislation existing has not been adopted. In Africa, Australia and Canada the governments make grants to public libraries up to a certain amount, on condition that the reading-rooms are open to the public, and some of the legislatures are even in closer touch with the libraries. The Canadian and Australian libraries are administered more or less on American lines, whilst those of South Africa, India, &c., are managed on the plan followed in England.