DIVISION XI
THE LENDING, OR HOME READING, DEPARTMENT

CHAPTER XXIV
THE REGISTRATION OF BORROWERS

366. General.

366. General.—By a tradition now firmly implanted in the mind of the public, and nourished by journalists, the lending department is the most prominent feature of the public library. The average public criticism, favourable or otherwise, is almost invariably based upon lending library statistics. This is probably because the average person knows the library as a place from which he may “take out” books. In a treatise for librarians the inadequacy of this view need not be stressed, although, as in many matters connected with their calling, librarians are not unanimous as to the relative value of their departments, some exalting one or other at the expense of the rest. There are, however, clear principles which have a fairly general acceptation. The main one is that in libraries which are in fairly close proximity to much greater libraries, it is wise to place more emphasis on the lending than on the reference department. It would be an unjustifiable duplicating of expense for a library, for example, within a mile or two of the British Museum, to attempt the hopeless task of rivalling it in the provision of expensive reference works; while on the other hand it would be justified abundantly in providing the finest possible lending library. Even here dogmatism is to be avoided, because the habits of populations in what appear to be exactly similar localities may differ greatly. Where, for example, a city working population living in a large suburb returns rarely or not at all to the city in the evenings, there may be a real demand for a reference library. Only experience, which bears in mind the general principles stated, can resolve which policy it is best to follow.

On account of its prominence and the numerous opportunities for good work it affords, the lending library deserves the utmost care in its planning and administration, and the simplest and freest methods compatible with reasonable care for the safety of the books are the best. All the considerations we have described as to book-selection and weeding-out, etc., apply with particular force in this department; and a careful study should be made of the various methods of issue described in the next chapter before one is chosen, as a wrong choice may inflict much hardship on readers and later involve changes which will be most expensive; in fact, the converting of a lending library from one system to another is probably the most costly operation in which it can be involved. The staffing of the department requires just as much consideration as that of any other, and the all too frequent and often unavoidable practice of employing the youngest boys and girls at the charging counters or desks is much to be deprecated even when it cannot be altogether avoided.

367. Voucher Forms.

367. Voucher Forms.—There are all kinds of voucher forms in use in the municipal libraries of the United Kingdom, ranging in size from foolscap folio to post-card. These vouchers are the forms on which borrowers apply for tickets entitling them to use the library, and they are the basis of the necessary registration of borrowers which all libraries must perform. It is not needful to describe more than one form, because it is gradually being adopted, with variations to suit different localities, as the standard system of the country. The legal questions connected with the validity of certain forms of guarantee are also beyond the scope of this section, because judicial rulings have been obtained on all kinds of forms, and the only point requiring consideration, that of the amount of the guarantor’s liability, has already been discussed.

A form of voucher which can be used as a movable card (5 in. by 3 in.) is preferable to a large slip, which requires binding in volumes, or other special means of preservation; and the style of cards given in Figs. 133-136 will be found satisfactory.

These voucher cards should be printed on a stout material, which may be of a different colour for each type of reader—burgess, non-burgess, student, etc.—and handed free to any person entitled to borrow books. When returned filled up, they are duly examined to ascertain if the applicant is duly qualified, and when this is done the card is filed, after it has been numbered from the number book, and the borrower’s card made out. The space in the top left-hand corner is to hold the borrower’s name, boldly written in as a catch-word for alphabetical arrangement. The No. . . . space at the top right-hand corner is for the borrower’s progressive number. The Date. . . space at the bottom left-hand corner is the date of application, which also becomes the date of expiry two years later. The Elector’s Roll. . . space at the bottom right-hand corner is for the number on the current electors’ roll. It is a useful thing to mark this roll with the numbers of the cards of any borrowers for whom a ratepayer may be guarantor, in all cases where a limit is put to the number whom one person may guarantee. There is generally plenty of marginal space for this purpose.

Fig. 133.—Voucher for a Ratepayer Applicant (Section 367).

368.

368. The following are satisfactory examples of vouchers for non-ratepayers and non-resident students and employees (see Figs. 134-6):

Fig. 134.—Front of Voucher for Non-Ratepayer Applicant (Section 368).

In some libraries the guarantee form has been entirely abandoned in favour of a recommendation which carries with it no explicit liability for losses.

The vouchers for non-ratepayer applicants should be dealt with in the same way as those for ratepayers, viz., checked with registers and filed in the alphabetical order of surnames, after tickets have been made out and an entry made in the number book.

369.

369. It will be seen that the vouchers illustrated permit any borrower who desires it to acquire a non-fiction or duplicate ticket in addition to a general ticket. The more general practice has been to require a separate voucher to be filled up (and guaranteed in the case of non-burgesses) for every such ticket. In this case the voucher requires no separate wording, but the word “Duplicate” or “Non-Fiction” stamped boldly across the ordinary voucher is sufficient to indicate the difference. But there seems no special advantage in making the applicant go through this double process. The same holds good with regard to vouchers for those who make a deposit in lieu of obtaining a written guarantee, or who subscribe in terms of Rule 18. The words DEPOSITOR OF . . . . . . or SUBSCRIBER OF . . . . . . and the date can be written or stamped on the back of the card. Of course there is no reason, beyond avoiding a multiplicity of cards, why a library should not provide separate forms for every class of applicant, with differently coloured cards, etc., but it seems unnecessary, unless there are special local circumstances to be considered.

Fig. 135.—Back of Voucher for Non-Ratepayer Applicant (Section 368).

Fig. 136.—Front of Voucher for Non-Resident Student or Employee;
the back is the same as in Fig. 135.

370. Tickets.

370. Tickets.—Various forms of borrowers’ tickets are used with indicators and card charging, but only the kinds most commonly used need be described. One form is shown below (Fig. 137) for libraries in which borrowers retain their tickets when they have no books on loan. They are made with cloth backs to fold across, and the one with the clipped corner is a good form to adopt for students’ or extra tickets available for non-fictional works only. The variety shown is not ruled to hold a record of the numbers of books which are borrowed upon it, as it does not seem necessary to keep such a record. To keep it involves a great deal of work, and the information it affords, being practically confined to what type of book an individual reads, is rarely wanted. As a check on lost books it may have some value, but that has no relation to the cost of keeping it.

This ticket can be used with any kind of issue method, and it is therefore noted here and not with other cards among the charging systems.

Fig. 137.—Borrower’s Card (Section 370).

371.

371. The plan which we have assumed to exist of issuing DUPLICATE or STUDENTS’ tickets available for non-fiction works only, in addition to an ordinary ticket available for all classes of literature, first became popular in Britain in 1893, and arose out of a suggestion made by Mr J. Y. W. MacAlister at the Library Association Conference at Aberdeen. In America this is generally known as the “Two-Book System,” and it became very widely adopted after 1894. Indeed, American libraries are most generous in their lending; many libraries lend as many as ten books at a time; and one or two have recently (1919) invited borrowers to take at any one time “as many as they like.” The advantage of this indiscriminate freedom is not quite obvious, and, owing to their more limited stocks, it would be impossible in most British libraries. There are decided advantages in the plan of allowing borrowers to have two books at a time, and there is no doubt it greatly enhances the value of the public library to many people. As indicated by Rule 19, Section 360, special privileges are recommended to be extended to school teachers, who ought to be allowed any number of books, within reason, required for their special and important work of education. There is no objection to allowing special privileges to all earnest students engaged on special lines of research, provided no injustice is done to the general work of the library or to students similarly engaged. Certainly it is better to lend a real student half a dozen or more books at a time than to have these books lying idle at the library. Of course, in libraries with more readers than books, if there are any, extra tickets will require to be issued with caution, but in all large libraries the privilege can be extended without fear or hesitation.

372. Registration.

372. Registration.—All borrowers’ tickets should be numbered in a progressive series, and the same number should be given to the same borrower as long as he or she remains connected with the library. This prevents overlapping and the clumsy method of numbering continuously up to a certain limit and counting off the early numbers; a doubtful way of ascertaining the total number of actual borrowers at any given time. The ruling of a number register in book form is shown in Fig. 138.

No.	1901.	1902.	1903.	1904.	1905.	1906.	1907.
1	H. C. Rhodes June 4	H. C. Rhodes June 6
2	P. Krüger✓ June 4	J. Burns July 10
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Fig. 138.—Borrowers’ Number Register (Section 372).

In this each borrower is entered as he joins, receiving the first vacant number, which is also carried on to his voucher and ticket. The column is chosen which represents the year in which his ticket expires, and against the number is written the borrower’s name, and under it the month and day when the ticket expires. The holder of a given ticket can be ascertained very rapidly by this method, and time-expired or dead ticket-holders can be counted off without trouble. But it is necessary to mark or qualify the entries in order to do this. An easy way to indicate an expired ticket is to mark the register with a blue tick (✓) as shown in Fig. 138 (No. 2). These expired numbers should be given to new borrowers, so as to keep the register filled up and complete, and at the end of a given period, when it is time to ascertain the number of “live” or actual ticket-holders, it is only necessary to count the blue ticks, and deduct their total from the last number of the series, in order to obtain the exact number of current borrowers. A number register book ruled as shown in Fig. 138 will last for many years. It is not necessary to print the progressive numbers or years, and it will facilitate counting operations if fifty numbers are allowed for every page. Duplicate or special ticket-holders numbered in a separate series should be entered in a special book, and juvenile ticket-holders can be treated in a similar fashion.

373.

373. To prevent the possibility of a number of tickets being obtained by the same individuals, all tickets should be registered and made out at one library of a town, but, of course, issued from the library at which the application was made, and such tickets should be made interchangeable. There does not seem to be any advantage attached to separate branch registration, and certainly there is much loss of good service when residents are confined to the use of a particular branch. The residents in a town are entitled to use any of the libraries, and a central registration of borrowers is therefore essential.

374.

374. When the borrowers’ vouchers have been duly checked, numbered, and the tickets have been written out, they should be filed in alphabetical order of the borrowers’ surnames in properly guided trays (or, better, card cabinets), supplied with all necessary angle blocks, etc., as in the case of charging and card-catalogue trays and cabinets. These form the alphabetical index to the borrowers, while the borrowers’ number register supplies the numerical side. Thus any question regarding borrowers can be answered without delay. It is not necessary to keep an alphabetical index of guarantors if the electors’ roll is marked as previously suggested.

375. Bibliography

Dana, J. C. (Ed.). The Work of the Registration Desk. In Mod. American Lib. Econ., 1908.

Stewart, J. D., and Others. Open Access Libraries, 1915.

For articles see Cannons, E 111, Registration of Borrowers.

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CHAPTER XXV
ISSUE METHODS

376.

376. In modern library practice, methods of book-registration involving the use of ledgers or day-books have now been entirely abandoned, save in a few proprietary and subscription libraries. It will, therefore, be needless to describe charging systems so generally discarded, and it will suffice if reference is made to the first edition of this work, in which many forms were illustrated and explained.

377.

377. The great objection to all charging ledgers in book form was their want of movability and adjustability. The entries when once made were fixed, either in a running sequence under a date of issue, a borrower’s name, or a book’s title. If, for any purpose, it should be desirable to manipulate the entries, in order to secure greater accuracy, or some definite record of a special kind, the book ledgers did not lend themselves to this sort of treatment. There was no kind of movability possible, and questions which might be answered readily enough if entries were movable and separate, could not be put to any issue record in volume form. Chiefly because of this, the slip or card methods of charging were introduced, which enable registration to be conducted in a variety of ways for different purposes. It is impossible to say when or where cards were first introduced, but as they have been used for commercial purposes for years before the public library system was established, it follows that many minds must have discovered the utility and convenience of movable entries. There are many varieties of card or slip charging in existence, and innumerable methods of working or applying them. Movable entry systems are in every respect the most interesting, not only because they present greater possibilities to the ingenious mind, but because they are more scientific and more natural.

378.

378. There have been numerous systems devised for recording issues of books from public libraries, but in none have so many variations been introduced as in the great group using cards as a basis. There is hardly any limit to be put to the variety of ways in which cards can be used; and, without describing every system in detail, it will nevertheless be interesting to select and describe typical plans from among the more practical varieties, as representative of each particular group. The fundamental idea of all card systems of charging is that each book or volume shall be represented by a movable card, which can be stored in various ways when the book is on the shelf, and used to register or charge the book, when issued, to its borrower.

379.

379. When cards are used as movable entries, there is no need to keep a column for showing date of return; and, before describing a method of working, the following specimen ruling for a card is given:

F 9432
HOPE
Prisoner of Zenda
8276	Jul. 19	2641	Nov. 6

Fig. 139.—Book Issue-Card (Section 379).

The first and third columns may be used for the borrowers’ numbers, and the second and fourth for dates of issue, as shown above, or all four columns may be used for borrowers’ numbers. The backs of the cards may be ruled the same, without the heading. These cards are kept in a strict numerical order of progressive numbers in trays or drawers. When a book is chosen by a borrower, the card representing it is withdrawn from its place, the borrower’s number and date of issue entered, the date of issue stamped on the date label of the book, and the transaction is complete when the book-card is placed in a tray, or behind a special block bearing the date of issue. At the end of the day the cards are all sorted up in numerical order, as far as possible, the statistics made up from them, and they are then put away in the dated issue trays, or behind date blocks in drawers. When a book is returned, its date and number direct the assistant to the exact number of the book-card, which is withdrawn, and at leisure replaced in the main sequence. No other marking off is necessary, and the book is immediately available for issue. Overdues gradually declare themselves, as day after day passes, and the cards for books in circulation diminish in number as returns are made. This is card charging of a simple kind, which is rarely used nowadays, as in cases of overdues, queries, etc., it necessitates reference to the borrowers’ register, and such references are always a nuisance; but it forms the basis of all the more elaborate scientific systems.

380.

380. The pocket system of card-charging is that most used in the United Kingdom, not only as a separate method, but also frequently in connexion with, or as an adjunct to, indicators. This is a loose pocket system in which each book is represented by a manila card (about 4 × 2 inches) ruled on both sides to take borrowers’ numbers and dates of issues. Every borrower is represented by a card of a similar kind, but one inch shorter (see Fig. 140). When a book is issued its card is taken from the tray, and, with the borrower’s card, is placed in a loose manila pocket, the date of issue is stamped on the date label inside the book and the borrower receives the volume. It is customary in most open access libraries to hand the borrower his card when his book is discharged. If he does not want another book at the moment he retains his card for the future, but if he does want another he selects one in the usual way, and hands it and his ticket to the assistant at the exit charging wicket, where the charge is made very rapidly by simply selecting the book-card and “marrying” it with the borrower’s card in a loose pocket. In some libraries the charges thus made are simply sorted by book numbers and arranged behind projecting date guides in the issue trays. In others this is postponed till the book numbers have been carried on to the book-cards. Whatever method of registration is adopted the ultimate result is that a complete charge is got by mechanical means, which obviates the need for writing at the moment of issue. The plan of keeping the book-cards in pockets inside the books has been adopted in some libraries, but of course this destroys the value of the system as an indicator to the staff of books in and out. At the same time, in open access libraries particularly, it facilitates service at the moment of issue. The conjoined cards of this loose pocket system appear as in the diagrams on page 355 (Figs. 142-3).

381.

381. The following diagrams show one of the principal systems of card charging now used in British libraries. Each book has a small triangular pocket inside the front board, in which is placed a small book-card (2 × 1¹⁄₈ inches) of manila, on which is written the class number, author and title of the book it represents. In cases of duplicate copies it is advisable to write the accession number on the book-card to facilitate stocktaking. Each book also has a date label inside the front board facing the book pocket (Fig. 141).

Fig. 140.—Book and Borrower’s Cards combined in Pocket (Section 380).

Each borrower has a neat linen-covered or other card bearing the name of the library, the name, address and number of the borrower and the date when the card was issued, or better, when it will expire, if periodical renewals are demanded. When a book is issued, the borrower hands his card and the book chosen to the assistant, who takes the book-card from the book pocket and places it in the pocket of the borrower’s card, stamps the date of issue or return on the date label and issues the book. The charges are then arranged in trays as described below, and thus give a perfect record without writing.

Fig. 141.—Book Pocket and Card.

382. Charging Appliances.

382. Charging Appliances.—An important part of a card method is the tray for holding and displaying the cards, and of this there are a number of kinds in use in libraries using indicators and in those working without them. For many reasons, but above all for economy of space, it is best to use a comparatively small-sized charging card, the advantage being that all the accessories, such as trays, guides, etc., are correspondingly small, cheap and easily handled.

13⁄4″
Watson (John)				3″
	30 Thornhill Square.
5963
30th Sept., 1906.
BOOKTON PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

Fig. 142.—Borrower’s Card
with Pocket.

Watson (John)			←		Borrower’s Card.
	E 100·3 Balfour
			←		Book- Card.
BOOKTON PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

Fig. 143.—Borrower’s Card
and Book-card conjoined.

383.

383. A standard size of card tray made of wood is shown in Fig. 144.

This tray (b) is provided with a rod (a) for securing the guides (e) in a continuous slot (c) at the bottom, to carry and secure the slot-fastening (f) of the guides (e). It has cut-away sides to facilitate the handling of the cards; a back slide or block (d) to retain the cards at any convenient or required angle; angle-bars and catch-pieces of brass (g and h) to secure a series of trays firmly in place, and prevent upsetting or knocking about. For every kind of card charging, whether in connexion with an indicator or without, this style of single tray, capable of indefinite expansion, is preferable to drawers or frames divided into compartments. Each tray will hold with its guides approximately 1000 cards, and, when divided up into hundreds, any number can be found quite rapidly.

384.

384. The guides are generally made of steel, enamelled and figured, or from vulcanized fibre, xylonite or aluminium, bearing the numbers stamped upon them. Every charging system of this kind should have a set of nine guides for each thousand numbers, numbered simply 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or having the hundreds running progressively throughout, 100, 200, 300, 400, etc. There should also be at least two complete sets of date guides, numbered from 1 to 31 inclusive, a set of alphabetical guides (for unclaimed borrowers’ cards) from A to Z, and the miscellaneous guides for fines, marked 1d., 2d., 3d., 6d., etc., “Overdues,” “Renewals,” “Guarantors Notified,” etc. All these are necessary for working card-charging as described in this Chapter.

385.

385. It is advisable to provide a card-sorting tray, which may be a simple rack divided into narrow compartments representing thousands. The compartments need not be more than an inch wide, as the cards can lie just as easily on their edges as flat, and with greater economy of space. Where fiction is kept in a separate series of trays, or the book-issue cards are classed, then, of course, some modifications will be required both in book-issue and sorting trays.

386.

386. The indicator, as a library tool, is almost entirely an English appliance, and it is somewhat curious, considering their love for, and extensive use of, mechanical contrivances, that American librarians have never taken kindly to it. Various abortive experiments have been tried at Boston and elsewhere with indicating devices of several patterns, but the almost universal opinion of American librarians is against indicators in any shape or form. This holds good as regards colonial and foreign libraries generally, though one or two Canadian and Australasian libraries have adopted indicators of an English design. In England, on the contrary, the invention of these appliances has gone on unremittingly for sixty years, and there are about twenty different varieties, each possessing its own merit or ingenuity.

387.

387. An indicator is a device for indicating or registering information about books, in such a way that it can be seen either by the staff alone, or by the public and staff both. The information usually conveyed to the public is some kind of indication of the presence or absence of books, and the methods of accomplishing this almost invariably take the form of displayed numbers, qualified in such a way as to indicate books in and out. Thus, small spaces on a screen may be numbered to represent books, and their presence in the library indicated by the space being blank, or their absence from the library shown by the space being occupied by a card or block. Or, colours may be used to indicate books in and out, or a change in the position of the block representing a book. No doubt the idea of the mechanical indicator was early evolved from the needs of the first public libraries. The first practical application of it was in 1863, when Mr Charles Dyall, then Librarian at the Hulme Branch of the Manchester Public Libraries, had one made for actual use by the public and the staff. This seems to be the very earliest English indicator, and Mr Dyall is entitled to full credit as the pioneer inventor.

388.

388. The Elliot Indicator, 1870, is very fully described in a pamphlet entitled “A Practical Explanation of the Safe and Rapid Method of Issuing Library Books, by J. Elliot, inventor of the system. Wolverhampton, 1870.” This pamphlet gives diagrams and descriptions of the Elliot Indicator in substantially the same form in which it exists at the present day. The numbers are alongside the ticket shelves or spaces, and a specially thick borrower’s ticket is used with coloured ends to show books out and overdue. The indicator is a large frame, divided into columns by wide uprights carrying 100 numbers each, which correspond with the little shelves, formed of tin, dividing each column.

There are 100 shelves and numbers in every column, and the indicator is made in several sizes, according to the width of the borrower’s card used. The public side is covered with glass. The method of working is simple. The borrower scans the indicator till he finds the space opposite the number he wants vacant. This indicates that the book he wants is in, and he then hands his ticket to the assistant, stating the number of the book he requires. The assistant enters the book number and date of issue in the borrower’s card, and inserts it in the indicator in the space against the number. The book is then fetched, and before issue it is registered on a specially ruled day-sheet, by means of a stroke, to record the day’s circulation for statistical purposes. When the book is returned its number directs to the space on the indicator occupied by the borrower’s card, which is withdrawn and returned to the owner, when all liability for fines is cleared. Overdues are detected by means of differently coloured ends to the borrowers’ cards, or the periodical examination of the indicator. This indicator, which occupies a very large amount of counter-space, has been, or is, in use at Wolverhampton, Newcastle-on-Tyne and Paisley.

491			-		Space for Ticket.
492
493			-		Ticket in space, indicating book out.
494
495
496

Fig. 146.—Diagram of Elliot Indicator (Section 388).

389.

389. Cotgreave Indicator, 1877.—This indicator is that which has been most used in this country, and was the invention of Alfred Cotgreave, then Librarian of the Wednesbury Public Library, in 1877. An account of its structure and working from one of the descriptive circulars issued in connexion with it will enable anyone to gather a good idea of its appearance and use:

“It consists of a wooden or iron frame, fitted with minute zinc shelves, generally 100 in a column. Upon each of these shelves is placed a small metal-bound ledger (3 inches × 1 inch), containing a number of leaves, ruled and headed for the number of borrower’s ticket, and date of issue, also date of return or other items as may be required, numbered or lettered at each end, and arranged numerically in the frames. One part of it is also lettered for entries of date of purchase, title of book, etc. The metal case has turned-up ends, and the numbers appear on a ground coloured red at one end and blue at the other, one colour showing books out, the other books in; other colours may be used if preferred. The out numbers can be covered altogether with a date slide if required. The change of colour is effected by simply reversing the ledger in the indicator frame. The public side of the indicator is protected by glass.

“The modus operandi is as follows: A borrower having chosen a book from the catalogue, consults the indicator, and finding the required number to be on blue, denoting in, asks for the book corresponding, at the same time tendering his library ticket. The assistant withdraws the indicator ledger, makes the necessary entries, inserts borrower’s ticket, and reverses the ledger, which then shows the red colour, signifying out. He then hands out the book asked for. The borrower’s ticket will remain in this number until he changes his book, when his ticket will, of course, be transferred to the next number required, and the returned number will be reversed again, showing by the blue colour that the book it represents is again in, and is immediately available to any other reader requiring it. The entries need not be made at the time of issue, but may stand over until a more convenient time.

“When a book is not required the ticket is returned to the borrower, and acts as a receipt, exonerating him from liabilities.”

There are many ways of working this indicator in order to obtain certain records or notifications of overdues, and nearly every library has some modification of its own.

It is not necessary to trace the history of the indicator in any further detail, because, with one exception, the forms described comprise all that have been introduced to any extent in English public libraries.

390.

390. Another indicator which has been introduced to some extent was invented in 1894, and has several features which may be described here.

It consists of a series of wooden blocks, each of which is numbered with 250 numbers in gilt figures, and each number has a slot under it large enough to hold a book-card with red coloured or white ends, bearing the same number as the slot. These blocks can be built into columns of 1000 with the numbers running consecutively, the whole being lodged in a glazed frame. This indicator differs from other varieties in having the numbers qualified by the red or white line of the card under the numbers to indicate books in; when the slot is blank, the book is out. “The withdrawal of the book-card is the method of indicating books out, and it is the union of this card with the borrower’s card which forms the basis of the subsequent registration. When a book is issued the assistant withdraws the card from the recorder and places it in the reader’s ticket, which is formed like a pocket, fetches the book, stamps it with the date of issue, and so completes the transaction at the moment of service. Afterwards, the readers’ pocket tickets containing the book-cards are assembled and arranged according to classes in numerical order. They are then posted, by book and reader numbers only, on to a daily issue sheet or register, and the date of issue is stamped on each book-card, if this has not already been done at the moment of service. The conjoined book- and reader-cards are then placed in a tray bearing the date of issue, in the order of classes and book numbers, or in one series of book numbers as may be needful.” In other respects this charging system resembles the card methods described in Section 380.

391.

391. The only other indicator which is designed on an entirely different principle from any of the foregoing is the Adjustable Indicator proposed by the author in a paper read before the Library Association in 1895, and published in The Library for 1896, with illustrations. This was a practical proposal for an adjustable indicator in which its size should be limited by the number of books in actual circulation, and not by the number in stock. There is a very important point here, as a library with a stock of 30,000 volumes would require an indicator occupying about thirty-eight feet run of counter space. If it never had more than 4000 volumes out at one time, these could be shown on the limited indicator above named within a space of not more than six or eight feet. This is a most important question, and it is inevitable that, in many libraries where conditions and feeling are opposed to progressive changes, this continual growth of indicator space will force library authorities into the serious consideration of less crowded methods.

392.

392. On the principle of limiting the indicator to one particular class of literature, several varieties have been introduced at Brighton, Wimbledon, Glasgow and Lewisham. So many libraries now use indicators for Fiction only that there is some advantage in having special appliances for the purpose. The Glasgow indicator consists of a series of detached columns with adjustable number-blocks representing the books, arranged so that insertions can be made at any point. The Lewisham or Graham indicator is an alphabetical one, and consists of an ordinary pigeon-holed frame, into which fit small numbered blocks of wood or metal bearing the names of authors and similar blocks with the numbers of their works. The chief advantage of this form is that it is self-contained, and requires no key to enable borrowers to ascertain what are the titles of books indicated in. A simple reference to the author’s name in the ordinary catalogue enables this to be done. An indicator on similar lines has been invented by Cotgreave, who applied the idea to a magazine indicator.

Out . .	●	ARGOSY.
In . . .	○	ART JOURNAL.

Fig. 148.—Diagram of Periodicals Indicator (Section 393).

393.

393. Indicators are occasionally used for recording and indicating the issue of the parts of periodicals, both in lending libraries and reading-rooms. The reading-room indicator simply shows what periodicals are in use or available, in cases where they are kept behind a barrier instead of being spread over tables or racks. There are examples of this indicator at the Public Libraries of St Saviour’s, Southwark, and Finsbury. The principle is simple. The titles of magazines are mounted upon narrow blocks of wood, arranged loosely in columns so as to be adjustable, within a glazed frame. The back of this frame is open to the staff only. Against the end of each title a hole is drilled to take a round peg which is coloured black at one end and white at the other. The white ends are shown when a magazine is in, and when it is issued the peg is reversed to show the black end. This indicates out.

394.

394. As a substitute for indicators, and an approach to open access, many libraries provide a show-case for new books on the lending library counter, to enable readers to see the additions as they are made. In some libraries these show-cases are not glazed on the public side, so that the readers have the additional privilege of examining the new books as well as merely seeing them. Certain libraries, like Birkenhead and St George’s-in-the East, Stepney, have whole departments of books arranged behind wire or glass within seeing distance of the readers, and they have the option of choice by bindings and titles, which, if not much better, is as good as choosing from catalogue entries, and at any rate gives the semblance of freedom and closer touch with the books.

395.

395. At one time a considerable controversy, often conducted with surprising feeling, raged in England over the respective merits of indicator and open access methods. This continued from about 1894, when James Duff Brown inaugurated the safe-guarded open shelf plus card-charging method at Clerkenwell (now Finsbury Central) Library. His liberalizing action necessarily threatened the property of those who owned indicator patents—some of them librarians unfortunately—and an astonishing number of objections to each method were then discovered by the advocates of either (some of them honest). The younger librarians will have none of this controversy. It is a purely impersonal question as to which is the better system, and the gradual extension of the open access system seems to have settled the matter in its favour. It is clear that with advancing education the public will question the right of the libraries to erect barriers, however ingenious and practical, between the books and their readers. All that it seems necessary to say here is that librarians should be able to examine both systems in actual working, study the results obtained, and form their own conclusions without having their integrity or morality challenged because of their conclusions.

396. Bibliography

Brown, J. D. Charging Systems. In his Library Appliances, p. 20.

Dana, J. C. (Ed.). The Charging System. In Mod. American Lib. Econ., 1909.

Plummer, M. W. Loan Systems. U.S. Educ. Rept., 1892-1893, vol. i., p. 898.

Stewart, J. D., and Others. Open Access Libraries, 1915.

Vitz, C. P. P. Loan Work. A.L.A. Man. of Lib. Econ., Preprint of chapter xxi., 1914.

For articles see Cannons, E 84-106, Lending Library Methods.

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CHAPTER XXVI
BOOK DISTRIBUTION

397. Branch Libraries.

397. Branch Libraries.—Branch libraries are included in this division, because as a general rule they are principally lending libraries with a reading-room attached, and rarely possess reference departments. Every large town extending over a wide area must sooner or later face the question of establishing branch libraries, not only as a convenience to the public, but as a relief to the central library. No rule can be laid down as to the distance which any reader should be from the nearest branch or other library. It is one thing to make a symmetrical plan on paper, showing a central library with a ring of branches situated at regular distances, and so placed as to bring every reader within one, half or quarter of a mile of the nearest library, but it is quite a different matter realizing this ideal. Topographical difficulties arise; the matter of density of population must be considered; and, to crown all, sites or suitable premises cannot always be obtained at, or near, the places selected, as the ideal spots. For these reasons regular spacing can rarely be achieved in the provision of branch libraries.

398.

398. A branch library differs from a delivery station in being, to some extent, a miniature central library, carrying its own stock of books, and having its own reading-room accommodation and magazines. A delivery station need not necessarily have a stock of books, beyond those sent in response to applications, and it would have no reading-room whatsoever. Branches and deliveries are often confused, no doubt because both provide for book distribution, but beyond this common feature all resemblance ceases. The question of the amount and kind of accommodation which it is desirable to provide depends entirely upon funds, conditions and requirements. For most situations in which branches are necessary, such as the suburbs of large towns, the minimum provision should include a lending department, and general reading-room for periodicals. Very occasionally a reference department is provided, but few systems will bear the cost of providing more than one such department, and that at the central library; but every branch should have a collection of quick-reference books which answer everyday questions and afford such information as is needed in every library. Such a collection does not necessarily require a separate room, because that requires special oversight, but it is better to place it in a convenient recess of the reading-room or vestibule, where it is under the observation of the staff, and where it is not necessary for the reader to pass through the wickets or other barriers of the lending department in order to make use of it. All kinds of extra features can be added to these provisions, if necessary, but these will depend upon funds; but a lecture room is especially valuable in a branch, as it is usually in an area ill-provided with such accommodation and one in which lectures, exhibitions, etc., can be given most profitably. Modern experience also advocates children’s departments at branches, as the suburbs are the nursery districts of most towns, and therefore the most fruitful opportunities for work with children are afforded in them. Some of the branches at Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Croydon, Coventry, Edinburgh, Bristol, Islington, Lambeth, Sunderland and Fulham are models of what such establishments should be.

399.

399. It is impossible to lay down any rules for guidance as regards the financing of branches, beyond the general recommendation that they should never be developed at the expense of the central library. It is better to have one efficient library in a town than several inefficient ones, as is the case in some towns where this wholesome principle has been forgotten or ignored. Librarians are justified in taking a strong stand upon this point against the unreasonable demands of ward committee representatives, who are sometimes bent upon getting everything they can for their own particular district irrespective of the claims of the system as a whole. Separate account should be kept of all moneys expended upon each branch. Receipts should also be separately accounted for, and the central library should receive a daily or weekly statement of all cash intromissions, issues, occurrences, etc. Such statements can either be rendered upon specially ruled sheets or post-cards, or kept in books according to some such form as shown in Fig. 150. All forms, books, etc., at the branch should correspond with those of the central library, and everything affecting administration stated throughout this book applies, though in a modified degree, to branch work.

400.

400. In the selection of books for branches the same principles should be applied as previously advocated, namely, the endeavour to get a high average of quality and utility in the literature added and the determination to discard useless books when the time comes. But an effort should be made to vary the contents of branch libraries so as to obtain as catholic and representative a stock as possible. With Fiction, of course, this is not so easy, especially in the case of popular novels by well-known writers, but in other classes this can be done frequently. For instance, if the north branch has So-and-So’s Chemistry, there is no reason at all why, all things being equal, the south branch should not have Someotherbody’s Chemistry and the east branch Someone-else’s. Of course it is assumed that these are all text-books of fairly equal merit. As every library should possess a union catalogue showing the whereabouts of every book in the library system, and as borrowers’ tickets should be interchangeable all over the town and not limited to one particular library, this arrangement of different books on similar subjects widely enlarges the borrower’s field of choice. If the central and branch libraries are all interconnected by means of the telephone, as they ought to be, a borrower at the north branch can ascertain if Someotherbody’s Chemistry is available without going himself, and can easily arrange by waiting a day or shorter time to have the book delivered at the nearest branch. At Croydon a system of interchange effected by means of the municipal tramways, which carry parcels of books free, reduces the waiting for a book at another library to about thirty minutes. Such systems of interchange are a great convenience in many cases, and place the entire resources of the library at the command of readers, no matter where they may live.

LIBERTON PUBLIC LIBRARIES. North Branch.—Report.

Date

................................................................

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

J

K

L

Total.

Lending Issues

Reference Issues

Receipts

from

Fines

„

„

Catalogues, etc.

Books asked for

Books wanted from Central

Supplies wanted

Callers and occurrences

Signed

........................................

Fig. 150.—Branch Library Return (Section 399).

401. Delivery Stations.

401. Delivery Stations.—A delivery station is a place which may or may not have a small deposit collection of books—generally not—and is meant to supply readers in thinly populated districts and to be the forerunner of an orthodox branch to be established when the district develops. Such stations are usually a post-office, school, police station, or shop, which may be induced to carry out the necessary charging, etc., sometimes at a small remuneration. At the very best a delivery station in a town is but a makeshift substitute for a branch, and, from the borrowers’ point of view, does not afford a very satisfactory or expeditious service. If books which are wanted are not in at the central library, considerable delay and trouble are caused. Borrowers are compelled to make out long lists of the books they desire to read, and as often as not these are all out at the central store. As delivery stations seldom carry a stock of books from which an alternative choice can be made, borrowers are driven to the task of making out new lists or taking anything the delivery attendant can get by telephone, if there is this kind of communication, which is not generally the case; and as delivery stations are frequently managed by any untrained person obtainable, the reader gets very little help in solving real difficulties. Apart from all this, a day must elapse, as a rule, before any book wanted can be obtained, even if it is available, and for these reasons the establishment of book-delivery stations is not advisable save in remote and inaccessible parts of a large town, when every other method of giving a local service has been found impracticable. A highly organized system of delivery stations with frequent motor deliveries might, however, be made effective in scattered suburbs, but although such a system has been suggested, we have no record of a successful British example.

402. Travelling Libraries.

402. Travelling Libraries.—Of much greater importance are travelling libraries, which can be made to serve every purpose of delivery stations, with the great additional advantage of furnishing, in part, the same alternative selection of books as a branch library affords. These libraries are much used in the United States, and take the form of boxes of books numbering from fifty upwards, which can be deposited at fixed points in towns and rural districts, where borrowers can attend and make a choice of reading matter. Boxes of books by this plan can be sent to the care of responsible persons in all parts of a town, and these persons can undertake the local delivery and collection of the books, either for a small fee or as voluntary sub-librarians. Various kinds of records are necessary to keep track of the boxes and their contents and where and to whom they travel. Until lately very little of this kind of work had been done either in the United Kingdom or America, although the Americans are gradually developing systems of rural travelling libraries and town “home” libraries. The travelling libraries of the States of New York and Wisconsin form a most interesting study, as also do the “home” libraries of the city of Boston. Lately this matter has been given a considerable impetus through the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, which has established experimental rural library schemes in various parts of the kingdom in connexion with County Councils and, more infrequently, suitable municipal centres. Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, the counties of Dorset, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Cumberland and Westmorland have all such schemes in operation or have undertaken them. These have a central deposit library and circulate boxes of books at frequent intervals to the villages and towns in the area, in which the clergy, teachers and others act as honorary sub-librarians. In this way the people who are not at present touched by the public libraries are being brought into the fold. The matter is in the experimental stage, and is jeopardized by the fact that, in England at least, the County Councils have no express powers to provide libraries; but results of the most promising kind have already been obtained, and the day is no doubt at hand when the traditional idea of the function of a public library as a store from which literature is doled out to the people, if they know what they want, will be superseded by a very pronounced missionary spirit, and an endeavour to make known in every possible way the value of all kinds of books to all kinds of people.

403. Subscription Departments or Book Clubs.

403. Subscription Departments or Book Clubs.—In some of the older municipal libraries subscription departments or book clubs have been established, as a means of increasing the stock of a library, without much expense. Such departments exist at Bolton, Burton, Dewsbury, Dundee, Elgin, Leek, Tynemouth, Wednesbury and Workington. They are operated as follows: For a certain annual subscription any library reader or townsman may join this select library. From the subscriptions so received, supplemented in some places by occasional grants from the rate, new books are bought, generally in accordance with the wishes of a majority of members, but on this point practice varies. For one year these books are at the service of subscribers only, who borrow them in the usual way, for a fortnight or other periods according to circumstances. At the end of the year each book is transferred to the public library, and becomes the property of the library authority for the use of all borrowers. Where the selection is made with discretion, this may seem an economical way of obtaining books for a public library, and there is much to be said in its favour in present circumstances; but objections have been raised. Public libraries, it is argued, have no right to set up a privileged class in this way, especially as it is probable that the subscriptions cannot pay all the cost of service, lighting, housing, etc.; thus a proportion of the cost of maintenance falls on the library funds, and it is doubtful if in the end there is much gain in receiving as a quid pro quo a number of stale and, perhaps, not very judiciously selected books; and, further, public libraries have no right to compete with private and commercial subscription libraries for the sake of ministering to the few people who can afford the luxury of a select public library to themselves.

404.

404. Another form of subscription is occasionally indulged in by public libraries. By paying a certain subscription to large commercial libraries, like Mudie’s, they are entitled to borrow so many volumes at a time, and these are re-issued to the borrowers in the ordinary way, the library being responsible for losses. In small libraries this is often an economical way of obtaining the temporary loan of copies of expensive books for which there is a large transient demand, and in this way the people have immediate access to books which might otherwise never be bought, or only obtained in second-hand form long after their interest had faded. The only trouble about this arrangement is that it depends upon the mood of the said commercial libraries for its continuance. To what extent these would endure a constant drain from a hundred or so municipal libraries remains to be seen, as also does the problem of how they would meet the demand when it attained large dimensions. At one time certain of the London commercial libraries absolutely refused to lend books to public libraries on any terms. Now they are more complaisant.

405. Inter-Library Exchanges.

405. Inter-Library Exchanges.—This is a method of book distribution which has not been tried to any extent among British municipal libraries, and some organization would be required to place it on a working basis. Briefly, the idea is to enable a public library which has not got a particular book, to borrow it from some library which has, assuming all the responsibility for its safety and due return; and making its own arrangement with its borrower for the cost of carriage. This kind of exchanging could be managed better in London than elsewhere, but it could be applied to any group of libraries, such as those of Lancashire, Wales, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, etc. Each exchanging library would require to possess a complete set of class lists and bulletins, or other catalogues, of all the other libraries, and when a demand was made for a book which was not in its possession, the assistant could look through the catalogues of the other libraries till he found a copy, and it could then be written for, the borrower paying all resulting expenses. Of course, this arrangement would only apply to non-fictional works. There would be an undoubted advantage, too, if such a privilege could be obtained for public library borrowers from some of the older proprietary libraries with huge stocks of practically unused books which municipal libraries would not buy in the ordinary course. Arrangements whereby books from special scientific or other libraries could be borrowed for the use of local borrowers would also be an arrangement, could it be managed, which would benefit a greater number of students and other persons than at present. But, of course, there would be very serious difficulties in the way of inducing the owners of valuable special libraries to lend books for the use of strangers introduced by municipal library authorities. Meanwhile, because of these difficulties thousands upon thousands of valuable and useful books are lying idle and neglected in every part of the country, a waste of power which it is sad to contemplate.

A modification of this idea is the arrangement now made between a few towns whereby readers from the one who are visiting the other, who have been vouched for as being in good standing by their own library, are permitted to borrow books from the library in the town visited. Such an arrangement exists between Brighton and Croydon, Waterloo has a similar scheme, and possibly other places, and these have given much satisfaction. The main difficulty is that few inland libraries can give a full return to libraries in pleasure or health resorts, but perhaps too much emphasis should not be laid upon the necessity for an absolute return of service.

Reference List of Authorities

406. Branch Libraries

406. Branch Libraries:

Cole, G. W. Branches and Deliveries. U.S. Educ. Rept., 1892-1893, vol. i., p. 709.

Eastman, L. A. Branch Libraries and Other Distributing Agencies. A.L.A. Man. of Lib. Econ., Preprint of chapter xv., 1911.

Hutchins, F. A. Travelling Libraries, 1902. (A.L.A. Tract, No. 3.)

For articles see Cannons, D 13, Branch Planning; F 1, Methods; L 67, Books; F 2, Delivery Stations; F 4, etc., Travelling Libraries.

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