Various methods of cataloguing books are treated in Cataloguing Rules, author and title entries, compiled by the Committees of the American Library Association and the Library Association (1908); C. A. Cutter, Rules for a Printed Dictionary Catalogue (Washington, 1904); M. Dewey, Rules for Author and Classed Catalogues (1892); T. Hitchler, Cataloguing for Small Libraries (Boston, 1905); K. A. Linderfelt, Eclectic Card Catalog Rules (Boston, 1890); J. H. Quinn, Manual of Library Cataloguing (1899); E. A. Savage, Manual of Descriptive Annotation (1906); J. D. Stewart, The Sheaf Catalogue (1909); H. B. Wheatley, How to Catalogue a Library (1889).
United States of America.
The libraries of the United States are remarkable for their number, size, variety, liberal endowment and good administration. The total number of libraries with over 1000 vols. was 5383 in 1900, including those attached to schools and institutions, and in 1910 there were probably at least 10,000 libraries having 1000 vols. and over. It is impossible to do more than glance at the principal libraries and activities, where the field is so immense, and a brief sketch of some of the chief federal, state, university, endowed and municipal libraries will therefore be presented.
The Library of Congress was first established in 1800 at Washington, and was burned together with the Capitol by the British army in 1814. President Jefferson’s books were purchased to form the foundation of a new Federal libraries. library, which continued to increase slowly until 1851, when all but 20,000 vols. were destroyed by fire. From this time the collection has grown rapidly, and now consists of about 1,800,000 vols. In 1866 the library of the Smithsonian Institution, consisting of 40,000 vols., chiefly in natural science, was transferred to the Library of Congress. The library is specially well provided in history, jurisprudence, the political sciences and Americana. Since 1832 the law collections have been constituted into a special department. This is the national library. In 1870 the registry of copyrights was transferred to it under the charge of the librarian of Congress, and two copies of every publication which claims copyright are required to be deposited. Cards for these are now printed and copies are sold to other libraries for an annual subscription fixed according to the number taken. The building in which the library is now housed was opened in 1897. It covers 3½ acres of ground, contains 10,000,000 cub. ft. of space, and has possible accommodation for over 4 million vols. Its cost was $6,500,000, or including the land, $7,000,000. It is the largest, most ornate and most costly building in the world yet erected for library purposes. Within recent years the appropriation has been largely increased, and the bibliographical department has been able to publish many valuable books on special subjects. The A.L.A. Catalog (1904) and A.L.A. Portrait Index (1906), may be mentioned as of especial value. The classification of the library is being gradually completed, and in every respect this is the most active government library in existence.
Other important federal libraries are those attached to the following departments at Washington: Bureau of Education (1868); Geological Survey (1882); House of Representatives; Patent Office (1836); Senate (1868); Surgeon General’s Office (1870), with an elaborate analytical printed catalogue of world-wide fame.
Although the state libraries of Pennsylvania and New Hampshire are known to have been established as early as 1777, it was not until some time after the revolution that any general tendency was shown to form official libraries State libraries. in connexion with the state system. It is especially within the last thirty years that the number of these libraries has so increased that now every state and territory possesses a collection of books and documents for official and public purposes. These collections depend for their increase upon annual appropriations by the several states, and upon a systematic exchange of the official publications of the general government and of the several states and territories. The largest is that of the state of New York at Albany, which contains nearly 500,000 vols., and is composed of a general and a law library. Printed and MS. card catalogues have been issued. The state libraries are libraries of reference, and only members of the official classes are allowed to borrow books, although any well-behaved person is admitted to read in the libraries.
The earliest libraries formed were in connexion with educational institutions, and the oldest is that of Harvard (1638). It was destroyed by fire in 1764, but active steps were at once taken for its restoration. From that time to University libraries. the present, private donations have been the great resource of the library. In 1840 the collection was removed to Gore Hall, erected for the purpose with a noble bequest from Christopher Gore (1758-1829), formerly governor of Massachusetts. There are also ten special libraries connected with the different departments of the university. The total numbers of vols. in all these collections is over 800,000. There is a MS. card-catalogue in two parts, by authors and subjects, which is accessible to the readers. The only condition of admission to use the books in Gore Hall is respectability; but only members of the university and privileged persons may borrow books. The library of Yale College, New Haven, was founded in 1701, but grew so slowly that, even with the 1000 vols. received from Bishop Berkeley in 1733, it had only increased to 4000 vols. in 1766, and some of these were lost in the revolutionary war. During the 19th century the collection grew more speedily, and now the library numbers over 550,000 vols.
Other important university and college libraries are Amherst College, Mass. (1821), 93,000 vols.; Brown University, R.I. (1767), 156,000 vols.; Columbia University, N.Y. (1763), 430,000 vols.; Cornell University, N.Y. (1868), 355,000 vols.; Dartmouth College, N.H. (1769), 106,000 vols.; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (1876), 220,000 vols.; Lehigh University, Pa. (1877), 150,000 vols.; Leland Stanford University, Cal. (1891), 113,000 vols.; Princeton University, N.J. (1746), 260,000 vols.; University of California (1868), 240,000 vols.; University of Chicago, Ill. (1892), 480,000 vols.; University of Michigan (1837), 252,000 vols.; University of Pennsylvania (1749), 285,000 vols. There are numerous other college libraries, several of them even larger than some of those named above.
The establishment of proprietary or subscription libraries runs back into the first half of the 18th century, and is connected with the name of Benjamin Franklin. It was at Philadelphia, in the year 1731, that he set on foot Subscription and Endowed Libraries. what he called “his first project of a public nature, that for a subscription library.... The institution soon manifested its ability, was imitated by other towns and in other provinces.” The Library Company of Philadelphia was soon regularly incorporated, and gradually drew to itself other collections of books, including the Loganian Library, which was vested in the company by the state legislature in 1792 in trust for public use. Hence the collection combines the character of a public and of a proprietary library, being freely open for reference purposes, while the books circulate only among the subscribing members. It numbers at present 226,000 vols., of which 11,000 belong to the Loganian Library, and may be freely lent. In 1869 Dr James Rush left a bequest of over one million dollars for the purpose of erecting a building to be called the Ridgeway branch of the library. The building is very handsome, and has been very highly spoken of as a library structure. Philadelphia has another large proprietary library—that of the Mercantile Library Company, which was established in 1821. It possesses 200,000 vols., and its members have always enjoyed direct access to the shelves. The library of the Boston Athenaeum was established in 1807, and numbers 235,000 vols. It has published an admirable dictionary-catalogue. The collection is especially rich in art and in history, and possesses a part of the library of George Washington. The Mercantile Library Association of New York, which was founded in 1820, has over 240,000 vols. New York possesses two other large proprietary libraries, one of which claims to have been formed as early as 1700 as the “public” library of New York. It was organized as the New York Society Library in 1754, and has been especially the library of the old Knickerbocker families and their descendants, its contents bearing witness to its history. It contains about 100,000 vols. The Apprentices’ Library (1820) has about 100,000 vols., and makes a special feature of works on trades and useful arts.
The Astor Library in New York was founded by a bequest of John Jacob Astor, whose example was followed successively by his son and grandson. The library was opened to the public in 1854, and consists of a careful selection of the most valuable books upon all subjects. It is a library of reference, for which purpose it is freely open, and books are not lent out. It is “a working library for studious persons.” The Lenox Library was established by James Lenox in 1870, when a body of trustees was incorporated by an act of the legislature. In addition to the funds intended for the library building and endowment, amounting to $1,247,000, the private collection of books which Mr Lenox had long been accumulating is extremely valuable. Though it does not rank high in point of mere numbers, it is exceedingly rich in early books on America, in Bibles, in Shakesperiana and in Elizabethan poetry. Both those libraries are now merged in the New York Public Library. The Peabody Institute at Baltimore was established by George Peabody in 1857, and contains a reference library open to all comers. The institute has an endowment of $1,000,000, which, however, has to support, besides the library, a conservatoire of music, an art gallery, and courses of popular lectures. It has a very fine printed dictionary catalogue and now contains nearly 200,000 vols. In the same city is the Enoch Pratt Free Library (1882) with 257,000 vols. In the city of Chicago are two very important endowed libraries, the Newberry Library (1887) with over 200,000 vols., and the John Crerar Library (1894), with 235,000 vols. Both of these are reference libraries of great value, and the John Crerar Library specializes in science, for which purpose its founder left $3,000,000.