90. The method of using this book is very simple. If there are ten assistants or under, one page only is used, each member of the staff receiving an appropriate number. If there are more than ten assistants two pages must be used, the numbers on the second page having the figure 1 prefixed to them, and the 10 being altered to 20. Thus page 2 will appear as 11, 12, 13, 14, etc. If there are more than twenty assistants a third page can be used, the existing numbers having 2 prefixed as before.
Each assistant on arriving or departing enters on the “Time-Sheet” his or her exact time in the spaces reserved, beginning the day with the first column. The assistants who check and tidy a to d in the mornings write their initials opposite the particular duty, while those who attend to the charging system, date stamps, overdues and cash for change also initial the item, the amount of change being stated. Against each assistant’s number is written his or her duties for the day. The first page or pages of the work book should be reserved as a key, and the names of the assistants should be written against the numbers which represent them. The column “New Orders” is for new instructions for all the staff. These should be entered briefly in red ink from the bottom towards the top of the page. The Notes lines will receive all items specified and any other notable incidents occurring in the course of each day, such as “Breakdown of Electric Light,” “Drunken man expelled,” etc. The work book must be kept in one recognized place, and every assistant should be held responsible for entering up his own notes and time. Any note of a general kind must be entered by the senior officer present on duty. The work book should be submitted to the chief librarian every morning.
| 9″ | |||||||||||
| 14″ | Date | ||||||||||
| Time-Sheet. | Daily Checks. | ||||||||||
| Arr. | Dep. | Arr. | Dep. | Arr. | Dep. | Department. | Initial. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | Reference | |||||||||
| 2 | b | Lending | |||||||||
| 3 | c | Reading Room | |||||||||
| 4 | d | Juvenile | |||||||||
| 5 | e | Overdues | |||||||||
| 6 | f | Charging System | |||||||||
| 7 | g | Change (money) | |||||||||
| 8 | h | ||||||||||
| 9 | j | ||||||||||
| 10 | k | ||||||||||
| New Orders. |
|||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||
| 5 | |||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||||
| 8 | |||||||||||
| 9 | |||||||||||
| 10 | |||||||||||
| Notes.--[Callers, Complaints, Errors, Lost or Found Property, etc.] | |||||||||||
Fig. 7.—Staff Work Book (Section 89).
91. Salaries.—Salaries are the most difficult question the library profession has to meet. Up to the present few library workers have been paid more than a living wage, and many have received barely that. It is obvious that increases in this direction are essential in the new conditions; but it is equally obvious that no library should spend so much in salaries that it is unable to purchase new books or to administer them. We saw in Section 31 that the average amount spent on salaries in the United Kingdom was about 42 per cent. of the entire income; and the staff, including the chief librarian, must be recompensed from the sum represented. The following figures show what was paid in the various positions in 1911:—
| Income of Library Authority. |
Librarians in Charge. |
Senior Assistants. |
Junior Assistants. |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||||||
| 500 | - | 1,000 | 73 | - | 100 | 46 | - | 80 | 19 | - | 52 |
| 1,000 | - | 1,500 | 54 | - | 65 | 58 | - | 90 | 19 | - | 52 |
| 1,500 | - | 2,000 | 84 | - | 120 | 77 | - | 125 | 24 | - | 65 |
| 2,000 | - | 3,000 | 78 | - | 180 | 84 | - | 95 | 20 | - | 60 |
| 3,000 | - | 4,000 | 122 | - | 250 | 65 | - | 100 | 26 | - | 80 |
| 4,000 | - | 5,000 | 107 | - | 160 | 90 | - | 130 | 26 | - | 65 |
| 5,000 | - | 10,000 | 148 | - | 225 | 100 | - | 170 | 29 | - | 78 |
| 10,000 | and over | 95 | - | 160 | 108 | - | 170 | 26 | - | 56 | |
Fig. 8.—Salaries paid in 1911.
It will be seen that these “actual” figures are full of anomalies and divergences, and the inadequacy of payment they reveal is in some grades positively remarkable. The European War has produced conditions under which it is impossible for many of these payments to sustain life, and the case for better payment is an imperative one. At the same time the argument is not for increased salaries out of present library means, but for increased library means wherewith to pay increased salaries. Any other course, in present circumstances, would lead many libraries into bankruptcy. Salaries are subject to deduction, in the case of assistants earning less than £250 per annum, for National Health Insurance; and in some towns having superannuation schemes, contributions, amounting on the average to 21⁄2 per cent., are exacted for that purpose.
The following salary scale for junior and senior assistants has been used in smaller libraries whose incomes exceed £1000:—
| Juniors— | 1st | year | £26 | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd | „ | 31 | 4 | 0 | |
| 3rd | „ | 36 | 8 | 0 | |
| 4th | „ | 41 | 12 | 0 | |
| Seniors— | 1st | „ | 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd | „ | 62 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3rd | „ | 72 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4th | „ | 82 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5th | „ | 92 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6th | „ | 104 | 0 | 0 |
(Thus, an assistant must, as a rule, wait ten years in order to earn two pounds a week!) All salaries, whether paid monthly or weekly, should not be subject to any deduction on account of absences from illness (except in so far as the matter is governed by National Health Insurance rules), holidays, or other causes. The annual increases should only be granted provided the report of the chief librarian is satisfactory. No assistant should be allowed to hold the view that increases in salary are automatic and not dependent upon satisfactory service. It is a good plan to arrange for the whole of the staff increases to become due at the same date, so that they can all be considered at one meeting of the committee.
92. Vacation.—The time granted for annual holidays ranges from three weeks or more for deputy librarians and departmental librarians to one week for juniors. A week or ten days is not sufficient for rest and change, and a fortnight is the minimum that should be allowed.
93. Staff Training.—In present circumstances every library should have a definite official system of training for its staff, and every assistance in and inducement to study should be given. The low salaries paid in libraries demand that assistants shall at least receive in part return the best equipment that can be given them. The first essential is general education approximating to matriculation, and definite study of literature should be required from the first year. Where such training has not been acquired previously, junior assistants should be required to read in such manner that they may at the age of sixteen take the Preliminary Test offered by the Library Association, and no assistant should be retained permanently, in his own interests as well as in those of the library, who is unable to pass that Test. Not until the Test is passed should assistants be encouraged to study the more technical divisions of the Library Association syllabus. Chief librarians should supervise the training of the whole staff and hold periodical brief examinations to convince themselves that it is being pursued systematically. Every librarian-in-charge should be held responsible for directing the studies of his subordinates, and in small libraries the deputy-librarian should assume this duty. Some libraries have staff guilds which hold regular classes, sometimes with outside teachers in special subjects; and the plan is to be commended. All books that may be required should be provided by the library, and class fees and examination expenses are paid in many towns—a method which deserves universal adoption. Every professional certificate won should command some financial recompense, however small; and, other things being equal, promotion should be given only to assistants who hold certificates. In a few libraries, but in an increasing number, a certain amount of study is allowed in official hours; this is a matter of time-sheet arrangement, as sporadic reading in ordinary library hours is not to be encouraged.
94. The Library Economy Library.—The foundation of all training is a collection of works on library economy and bibliography. A library without this is not properly equipped, and some libraries have much to seek in the matter. Every recognized text-book on the theory and practice of every department of librarianship, all library periodicals, the best examples of catalogues, bulletins, reading lists, annual reports, and the standard bibliographies, should be available on the freest conditions to the whole staff. Some libraries set apart a definite fund for the purchase of such works; and its expenditure is one of the best ultimate economies in which a committee can engage. Moreover, the institution which ostensibly provides the literature of all other professions is obviously in a ridiculous position if it does not provide the literature of librarianship. In Appendix II. we give a list of the works which should form the professional collection of every library of average size; and even small libraries should endeavour to become possessed of the majority of them.
95. Women Librarians and Assistants.—The employment of women in libraries is not universal in this country, and very few women hold the position of chief librarian, and these only of small libraries. In the United States the proportion of women librarians and assistants is nearer 95 per cent. than the 14 or 15 per cent. of Britain. There can hardly be a doubt, however, that women will be more extensively employed in British municipal libraries than they have been hitherto. In large towns it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain and retain the services of intelligent lads who will devote themselves to the work, and it is unnecessary to affirm nowadays that a well-educated, intelligent girl is just as suitable for public library work as a well-educated lad. If women are employed in libraries, they should be paid at the same rate as men or lads performing similar duties. There is no reason why a woman should be paid less than a man for doing exactly the same work. Everything recommended regarding qualifications, duties, etc., should apply to women as well as to men. It is the opinion of some librarians that, if women are employed, the staff should be composed entirely of them, as a mixed staff requires various kinds of separate accommodation.
96. Caretakers.—A satisfactory janitor or caretaker, generally speaking, is a valuable member of staff, and is rare. A good man seldom stays very long, so easy is it for him to seek and obtain promotion. Caretakers’ wages vary all over the country, according to the size of the library, amount of work and perquisites. In cases where a residence is provided, it is usual to secure the services of a man and his wife, and furnish him with a uniform and the usual light, coal, etc. In such cases the wages are usually less than when a man has to find his own residence. From 25s. to 30s. weekly is the wage given when a house is provided. In other instances, according to circumstances, the wages vary from 27s. 6d. to 50s. weekly. In large libraries extra assistance should always be provided, and the cleaning should be done early in the morning, before the hour of opening. A sufficient staff of cleaners should be provided to enable this to be done without interfering with the service of the public. Three hours every morning should suffice to clean any library, and it is important to employ plenty of help. The wages of cleaners vary from 9d. an hour downwards, but it is more often the practice to pay so much a week according to circumstances. Rates for this class of work differ so much that it is impossible to do more than roughly indicate a possible basis.
A caretaker should be made responsible to the librarian for the cleanness and order of the building, and his duties should include a certain number of hours’ attendance in uniform as general overseer of the rooms and their frequenters. It is imperative that this official should not be allowed to develop the attitude of a Jack-in-office, and in all his patrol work courtesy and firmness should be required. Eight or nine hours daily should be considered full time for a caretaker, and suitable arrangements must be made to enable him to remain off duty at hours when the business is quiet. In large libraries it is customary to employ more than one janitor or caretaker.
97. Staff and Public.—It is most important that good relations should exist between readers and the whole of the staff. It is a well-known fact that one or two overbearing assistants can render a public library more unpopular than almost anything else. Assistants should school themselves to endure with philosophy the impertinence of the small number of the general public who contrive to make themselves objectionable in every town, and not visit on the heads of the inoffensive majority the sins of the inconsiderate few. The staff of every public library should learn as a first lesson that they are the servants and not the masters of the people, and that mutual self-respect can be maintained without undue familiarity on the one side or aloofness on the other. The supercilious “official” attitude, with which public servants are so frequently credited, is to be completely repressed and kept under, and the public should be taught to appreciate their own libraries, and to understand that the doors of a municipal library are always open to receive and welcome every class of citizen. At the same time, preference should not be shown for any particular frequenter or group of frequenters, and gossiping must be suppressed.
98. Staff Accommodation.—In libraries of every size private rooms of suitable dimensions should be provided for the librarian and the assistants; with work- and store-rooms for the staff and caretaker. The librarian’s room in small libraries may be made large enough to serve as a committee room, and in all cases should have separate lavatory accommodation. A large safe or strong room is often attached to the librarian’s room, or in a secure part of the basement, in which to store valuable documents and books. It should be shelved to contain such documents as registers, minutes and other local records in a convenient manner, and should be kept well ventilated and dry for the safe preservation of its contents. Strong rooms vary in size from 4 feet × 6 feet × 8 feet, to large apartments 20 feet × 20 feet and upwards. The usual furnishings of a librarian’s room comprise a desk, table, bookshelves, chairs, hat and umbrella stand, and other office furniture. Staff mess-rooms should be fitted with tables, chairs, cupboards, with a locker for each assistant, cooking apparatus and other appliances. Work-rooms for staff use must be fitted to suit the class of work carried on, whether cataloguing or preparing books, binding or filing. Store-rooms for general purposes and for the use of the caretaker should also be provided, fitted with all necessary cupboards and shelving. Separate staff rooms and lavatory accommodation should be provided in libraries with staffs composed partly of men, partly of women.
Cowell, Peter. Public Library Staffs, 1893, L.A. Series, 3.
Library Assistants’ Association. Report on the Hours, Salaries, Training, and Conditions of Service in British Municipal Libraries, 1911. L.A.A. Series, 4.
Brooklyn Public Library. Rules for the Guidance of the Staff, 1906.
Michigan University. Library Staff Manual, 1912.
Bodleian Library. Staff Manual. Annually.
For articles, see Cannons, E 20-43, Staff Management.
99. Although there is no such co-ordination of libraries as there is of schools under central Government control, and therefore not the same apparent necessity for combination amongst librarians, the library profession is closely linked by means of library societies to which every librarian with any claims to consideration is attached. The largest of these societies is the American Library Association, which has nearly 4000 members; and many continental European countries have such societies. In the United Kingdom the principal societies are the Library Association and its branches, and the Library Assistants’ Association.
100. The Library Association.—This body, which is the centre and controlling force of British librarianship, was founded in 1877 at the First International Library Conference, which was held in London. In 1898 it received a Royal Charter by which it became the responsible representative body of the profession. Its objects as set out in the Charter are to unite all persons engaged or interested in libraries by means of conferences and meetings for the discussion of bibliography and all other phases of librarianship; to promote the better administration of libraries; to improve the position and qualifications of librarians; to promote the adoption of the Public Libraries Acts and the establishment of reference and lending libraries for use by the public; to watch and promote legislation affecting public libraries; to encourage bibliographical study and research; to publish information of service to the members or which in any way furthers the interests of the Association; to collect and maintain a library and museum; to hold examinations in librarianship and to issue certificates of efficiency; and to maintain in every lawful way the interests of libraries and their workers.
The Association is not purely professional. It seeks the co-operation in membership of library authorities, members of library committees and all persons who are interested in libraries, as well as library workers themselves. The presidency of the Association has until quite recently usually been held by a public man who was not a librarian. The executive is a council consisting of president, past presidents, honorary secretary, solicitor and treasurer, and twelve members of any grade representing London, and twenty representing the remainder of the United Kingdom, who, with the exception of the past presidents, are elected annually.
The membership consists of Honorary Fellows, Fellows, Members, Associate Members and Student Members. The Honorary Fellowship is given for distinguished service to the objects of the Association; Fellows are holders of the Library Association diploma, chief librarians who held office before December 1914, and, in some instances, librarians who are graduates of universities; Members are librarians[2] who hold four professional certificates and have had three years’ approved library experience, or librarians 25 years of age or more, who held office before December 1914 and have had not less than six years’ approved experience; Associate Members are librarians not qualified as Fellows or Members, and non-librarians; Student Members are persons under 25 years of age who are studying for librarianship; and libraries and institutions are received as Institution Members. Fellows and Members have the right of using the initials F.L.A. and M.L.A. respectively after their names so long as they remain subscribing members. The entrance fee to all grades of membership is one guinea, and the annual subscription is also one guinea, except for Student Members, who pay a half-guinea yearly.
The scheme of classification of members set out in the last paragraph has been in operation since 1914, and in course of time the classes will show the degrees of qualification possessed by their members. In 1914, however, many quite undistinguished people were made Fellows simply because they held the chief office in a library, however small or badly managed that institution might be. Hereafter, if the Council carries out its duties properly, as there is every reason to believe it will, only men and women qualified by a searching examination will become Fellows or Members. All classes of members (except student members, who do not vote) enjoy equal privileges in the Association.
The Association holds monthly meetings from about November to June in London, at which professional papers are read and discussed. It also holds an Annual Conference, usually early in September, when it is generally the guest of some municipality, and when the greater part of its members foregather for the discussion of library questions. The Annual Conference is the principal library event of the year, and every library worker who can should attend, as more is to be learned during that week than in many months of solitary reading or study of library problems. Library committees should not only encourage their librarians to attend; they should send delegates of their own members, and in the case both of these and of the librarians, defray their expenses. The papers and discussions are published in The Library Association Record, the monthly official journal of the Association, which is issued free to all members.
[2] The word “librarian” includes “library assistant.” After all, “librarian” is the name of a member of a profession, not the holder of a position.
101. Educational Work.—From the standpoint of this book the most interesting part of the Association’s work is that of its Education Committee. The Committee holds examinations yearly in May, and the scheme of examination for the Diploma includes six provisional examinations, a language test, a thesis, and, if desirable, further oral examination, etc., as follows:
(a) Provisional certificates are granted for:
(b) A satisfactory essay upon some aspect of each of the above subjects is required as part of the examination.
(c) Practical experience of not less than 24 hours a week for at least 3 years as a member of the administrative staff of one or more libraries approved by the Council.
(d) A thesis showing original thought or research on some subject within the purview of the syllabus, the subject being previously approved by the Council.
(e) A certificate approved by the Council, showing an elementary knowledge of Latin or Greek, and one modern foreign language. In the absence of such certificates the candidates may be examined by gentlemen appointed by the Council.
Each of the examinations may at present be taken separately; and the method of preparation is left to the individual candidates. It may be by individual reading, by the correspondence classes provided by the Association, or by attendance at the courses of lectures which the Association also provides. No student, however, is admitted to the examination who has not passed matriculation, the senior Oxford or Cambridge Local, or some similar examination. For those who cannot obtain one of these certificates, the Association prescribes its own Preliminary Test (held in May and October), which consists of papers in the general school subjects and in such matters as will test the candidate’s powers of observation and his common sense. The Association publishes a yearly Syllabus setting forth in detail these conditions, a detailed synopsis of the required subjects, lists of text-books, classes, etc., and a full list of certificate-holders.
The address of the Association is at Caxton Hall, Westminster, London.
We conclude these remarks by saying that librarians may be judged by their relations with the Library Association. Membership is in a broad sense the seal upon their experience and qualifications; and the catholicity of the Association’s educational work and its record of activity on behalf of libraries and librarians command the respect and adherence of all who are likely to read this book. No library worker of whatever grade whose income exceeds £100 a year should consider it consistent with his self-respect to remain outside this Association.
102. The Library Assistants’ Association.—This is a purely sectional association for assistants in municipal and institutional (but not commercial lending) libraries, and was founded in 1895 by the members of one of the Library Association Summer Schools, to educate and to protect the special interests of assistants, and to provide them with a freer platform than the Library Association seemed to offer. By means of monthly meetings held throughout the winter at various libraries, the reading of papers, discussions, etc.; by study circles, summer schools, international visits to libraries, and other activities, it has changed for the better the whole tone of the library service, and has won for itself a distinct place amongst professional associations.
It is organized on lines similar to those of the Library Association, being governed by a President, Honorary Treasurer, and Honorary Secretary and a Council of ten London and ten non-London members. Its membership is of Honorary Fellows, elected for special distinction or services; Fellows who are chief librarians who were formerly members; Members, assistant librarians earning salaries of £52 per annum and more; and Associates, assistants earning less than £52. The Association has several branches; maintains a good professional library (housed at the Central Public Library, Islington); issues free to all members a monthly journal, The Library Assistant; and has been responsible for various valuable brief publications included in the “L.A.A. Series.” The subscriptions for membership are 5s. per annum for Fellows and Members, and 2s. 6d. for Associates.
The value of the Association has been widely recognized, and library assistants, of whatever age or rank, would serve their own interests and those of their profession by adhering to it.
103. Other Societies.—Other purely library Societies which may be mentioned are the Panizzi Club and the Society of Public Librarians. The Panizzi Club, which was founded in 1914, is mainly composed of university, Government and institutional—but not municipal—librarians. It has not yet published any proceedings, and is interested in the compiling of co-operative bibliographies, and in doing such other work as will co-ordinate and improve the service of the libraries it represents. The Society of Public Librarians is a small body of librarians which meets in London for the reading and discussion of papers. It does not seek to add to its membership except by the nomination of existing members.
104. Societies which are not mainly for librarians, but which are of considerable interest to them, are the Bibliographical Society and the Museums Association. The Bibliographical Society, founded in 1892, has its headquarters at 20 Hanover Square, London, W.1, and exists for the promoting of the study of the book and manuscript mainly in their historical and bibliographical characteristics. It meets monthly for the reading and discussion of papers, and publishes, to members only, valuable works on matters within its province. The annual subscription is one guinea, and the entrance fee is a similar sum.
The Museums Association, founded in 1889, has for its object the bringing together of museum officials, members of museum committees, and others interested in museum work for mutual discussion and help. Its membership is made up of persons who pay a subscription of one guinea per annum, and associates who pay a half-guinea. An annual meeting, usually lasting four days, is held in July, when papers are read and discussed. The Museums Journal, published monthly, contains the transactions.
105. Staff Guilds, etc.—It will be appropriate to say a little here about the private organizations of library staffs, known as guilds, or clubs, which are becoming a feature of larger libraries here and in America. The members of the staff band themselves together for mutual improvement and recreation with a committee chosen of their own numbers to direct their activities. These latter include classes in library economy, literature, and other subjects of interest to assistants for the younger members of the staff, and reading circles, elocution classes, etc., for the older ones. Recreations, as cricket, swimming, walking, photography and other sports, are also arranged by the guilds; and at Croydon there is an annual excursion which is recognized by the public, the libraries being closed for the purpose on the chosen day. Croydon, Fulham and Glasgow have issued staff magazines in connection with their clubs; these are usually cyclostyled publications. The Islington club has distinguished itself for social gatherings, and the New Year’s gathering of the Glasgow club is one of the features of the library year. Wisely conducted, these guilds have a great influence for good, are an incentive to study, and produce that better work which comes from mutual understanding amongst library workers. They should be recognized by the library committee and the chief librarian, but should be perfectly autonomous.
Library Assistant.
Library Association Record.
Library Association Year Book.
Thorne, W. B. The Library Assistants’ Association: an outline of its development and work. “Librarian” Series, 2.
For articles, see Cannons, A 1-243, Library Associations.