65. General.—The success or failure of a library depends almost entirely upon the ability and energy of the staff. Opinion upon this question has been almost revolutionized in the past twenty years, and only very occasionally now do we find some misguided library authority placing so special an institution in the keeping of stickit ministers, unlucky schoolmasters, retired soldiers, minor journalists, unsuccessful booksellers, and similar remnants of the failures or superannuated in other walks of life. No untrained person is likely to attain more than the poorest or most commonplace results and will undoubtedly prevent the library from serving the community to anything like its potential capacity. Indeed, the work of the librarian is a professional occupation demanding for its successful accomplishment a training as complete and special at least as that required of the teacher. A committee fails signally in its public duty if it does not recognize this fact in the choice of its librarian; and the public has a right to demand that the man appointed to occupy any technical public office shall have had both training and experience.
66. The appointment of a chief librarian should be the first step taken by a committee. Numberless blunders, often resulting in great subsequent expense, have been made in the past through the mistaken economy of proceeding with buildings, methods and book-selection before such appointment. These matters are essentially the work of the librarian and not of the committee; and any little amount that may be saved from the salary of the librarian is invariably lost because of the adoption of faulty apparatus or plans; amateur experiments are usually expensive. If, at the beginning of its career, a library committee is unable to engage a qualified librarian, application should be made to the Library Association for the nomination of a professional adviser, who for a reasonable fee would give invaluable assistance at the time when such assistance is really vital.
67. Qualifications.—As is the case with the prominent members of every other profession, good librarians are born, not made. Training and experience cannot create such natural endowments as enthusiasm, originality, initiative—in short, positive genius for the work; but training and experience in sound methods will provide a passable substitute. Experience, however, depends for its value upon its character, and long years in inefficiently-managed libraries will not suffice for modern needs. Owing to the wide difference between the methods of, say, thirty years ago, and the more scientific methods of to-day, it is necessary to judge the experience of any librarian by the school in which he has been trained. This does not mean that a library which has been in existence thirty years or more is operated by obsolete methods; most of the larger libraries, indeed, have kept pace with, and have helped to originate, the modern methods which are to be preferred. At the same time the practice of appointing librarians from larger libraries in preference to those from smaller ones is often mistaken. A small library may afford its staff opportunities for a more comprehensive training than a large one, but it may not be so extensive in detail. In short, the size of the library in which a man is trained is no index to the character of its service, and this character is the main factor in considering experience.
The physical qualifications of a librarian should include good health, freedom from deformity, defect or incurable disease, and his or her age should not usually be less than twenty-five. Age is not so important in cases of promotion, as the committee has first-hand and accurate knowledge of capabilities to guide it. As regards the physical condition of librarians, it may be said generally that the same principles which guide selection in business appointments should be the rule in library appointments.
68. The professional attainments of a librarian should be judged mainly by their suitability for the duties to be performed. The degree of attainment differs in individuals, and it would be unfair to expect so many useful qualifications in a librarian who is to receive £200 per annum as in one who is to receive a much larger salary. But there are certain broad principles to be considered, the cardinal one being that only trained librarians should ever be appointed to chief positions. A committee is safe in selecting candidates from amongst diplomates, fellows and members of the Library Association, as these ipso facto have received the training indicated. We give in Sections 99-101 some account of the compass and activities of the Library Association, and commend what is there written to the consideration of library committees. Here it may be said that a diplomate is a librarian who has received at least three years’ training in a library recognized by the Association, has gained the six provisional certificates of that body in literary history, bibliography, classification, cataloguing, library organization and library routine, and has in addition shown a knowledge of Latin and one modern foreign language, and has presented an acceptable written thesis showing independent research upon some department of librarianship. The diploma is a very considerable attainment, and is at present held by few librarians, but the number increases, and no doubt its possession will influence future appointments considerably. It was initiated in 1901, and therefore too recently to have made it possible for all eligible candidates for appointments to have acquired it. To meet this situation, and to set up a standard of qualification, the Library Association adopted in 1911 a scheme for the classification of librarians into fellows, members, and student-members. A fellow is a librarian of approved experience who held office prior to the end of 1914, a librarian who holds the diploma, or a university degree plus approved library experience, or an assistant librarian of proved reputation and capacity who held office prior to the date named. All other librarians at the initiation of this scheme were classified as members (except very young men and women who became student-members and whose degree of training may be judged from that name). After 1914 admission to fellowship has generally been restricted to diplomates, or graduates with library experience, save in exceptional cases where great and proved capacity has been shown; and admission to membership has been restricted to chief librarians, or to assistants who hold four of the six diploma certificates. Other factors may apply in individual cases, but there are very few librarians or assistants of character and ability who are either members or certificate-holders of the Association.
With due allowance for the size and means of the library, and the salary to be offered to the librarian, the following list of qualifications may serve as a guide to a committee as to what they may expect.
LIBRARIAN’S QUALIFICATIONS
1. Training for at least three years in a library which is classified according to some recognized bibliographical scheme [Decimal, Expansive, Library of Congress, Subject or other].
2. A wide knowledge of English and Foreign Bibliography and Literature, and an intimate and exact knowledge of the contents of modern, and especially technical, scientific, and historical, books.
3. Sufficient acquaintance with languages to enable the translating of title-pages with the aid of dictionaries.
4. A knowledge of business routine, including elementary book-keeping and accounts.
5. Practical acquaintance with the leading systems of book classification.
6. Full knowledge of the various methods of cataloguing, with a thorough grasp of the modern literature of the subject.
7. Experience in staff management.
8. Practical knowledge of all modern systems of library working, including book-binding, book-buying, charging and maintenance.
9. Knowledge of modern periodical literature, and the management of news-rooms.
10. General culture, the ability to make a useful public speech, tact, courtesy, and, in fact, good “personality.”
69. Advertisements and Application Forms for Appointments.—Advertisements for librarians are usually inserted in one or all of the following:—The Times, The Athenæum, The Spectator and The Municipal Journal. A useful form of announcement may be subjoined:
LIBERTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Appointment of Chief Librarian
A Chief Librarian is required for the Liberton Public Library. Candidates must be Diplomates, or Fellows, or Members of the[75] Library Association (or be certificated by that body), and have had at least three years’ training in a library employing scientific classification. Salary to commence, £. . . ., rising by annual increments of £. . . . to a maximum of £. . . . . The application, which should be accompanied by three recent testimonials, is to be made on a special form which may be obtained from the undersigned. All applications should reach the undersigned not later than [allow three weeks]. Second class railway fares and reasonable expenses of selected candidates will be allowed. All canvassing will disqualify.
A. B. C.,
Town Clerk, or Clerk to the Committee.
The practice of requiring candidates to apply on a special form is fairly general, and has the advantage of securing uniformity in the information supplied, and in emphasizing the particulars considered to be the most important. For very important positions the method may be not so advantageous, as valuable conclusions may be drawn from the manner in which candidates present their applications. The following draft form may be suggestive to committees:—
LIBERTON PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMITTEE
[Address.]
Application for Librarianship
The candidate is particularly requested to answer every question in full, and return to A. B. C. [address], by 12 o’clock on [date to be named], marked on outside of envelope, “Librarianship.”
Selected candidates, when interviewed, should be examined on the questions scheduled above and on the qualifications specified in Section 68. A few questions by the chairman, based upon these, in addition to the independent suggestions of members of committee, will generally result in obtaining a very fair estimate of the qualifications of each candidate.
70. Salaries.—Owing to the limitation of the library rate and a general underestimate of the librarian’s utility, salaries in municipal libraries are not very liberal, and may be described as inadequate. In the state, university and some of the endowed and proprietary libraries the salaries range much higher, taken all round. These appointments, however, especially such as the British Museum, India Office, the Houses of Parliament, the universities and similar institutions, are seldom offered for competition. In public municipal libraries the salaries of chief librarians range downward from about £800. Some of the large London proprietary libraries, and many of the provincial libraries of a similar kind, give salaries to about the same maximum.
A careful analysis of the income, population and work of the principal English and American libraries has enabled the following table to be produced, showing the amount which a library can reasonably pay for a good officer. This scale is considerably below the American one, but slightly higher than the English.
Fig. 5.—Table
of Librarians’ Salaries which should be paid
by
Libraries possessing the incomes undernoted
| Library Annual Income from Rate. |
Librarian’s Salary. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |||
| 20,000 | 1000 | |||
| 15,000 | 800 | |||
| 10,000 | 750 | |||
| 8,000 | 700 | |||
| 6,000 | 600 | |||
| 5,500 | 550 | |||
| 5,000 | 500 | |||
| 4,500 | 450 | |||
| 4,000 | 425 | |||
| 3,500 | 400 | |||
| 3,000 | 350 | |||
| 2,500 | 325 | |||
| 2,000 | 300 | |||
| 1,900 | 290 | |||
| 1,800 | 280 | |||
| 1,700 | 270 | |||
| 1,600 | 260 | |||
| 1,500 | 250 | |||
| 1,400 | 240 | |||
| 1,300 | 230 | |||
| 1,200 | 220 | |||
| 1,100 | 210 | |||
| 1,000 | 200 | |||
| 900 | 190 | |||
| 800 | 180 | |||
| 700 | 170 | |||
| 600 | 160 | |||
| 500 | 150 | |||
| 400 | 120 | |||
| 300 | 90 | |||
| 200 | 60 | - | For part of time only. |
|
| 100 | 30 | |||
[The above table is rather higher than that given in the last edition, as regards the libraries with incomes exceeding £3000, and is based upon my own inquiries and conclusions as they have been affected by the European War. Few librarians receive normally £1000, and it is quite clear that the present salaries for the greater libraries are most inadequate, having regard to the responsibilities involved.—Editor.]
71. The only other point of importance arising out of the question of librarians’ salaries is that of providing a residence on the library premises. This policy has been adopted in London more than anywhere else. It affects the question of salary to some extent, though not quite so much as has been claimed. A committee of a £4000 library might argue that, by providing a good house in a valuable position, they are only entitled to give a salary of £325, the balance of £100 being represented by the house. The practical reply to this is, that a house under these conditions, although it could rent at £100 or even more, is just worth to the librarian exactly what he would be prepared to pay for house rent if he lived away from the library. Any allowance or deduction should accordingly be based upon this consideration. In small libraries it is not advisable to incur additional cost in the erection of buildings by providing a residence for the librarian in order to save on his salary. Beyond the advantage of having a librarian living on the premises as a kind of superior perpetual caretaker, there is little to be gained by complicating a library building with such an excrescence as a residence. If houses are provided at all, they should be mainly used by caretakers who have to get up early, and there is a decided convenience in having an officer of this description always at hand. If possible, residences should be erected as far away from public reading-rooms as they can be, the occupation of rooms over news-rooms, etc., having been proved to be unhealthy in many cases. The accommodation provided for a caretaker usually consists of a sitting-room or large kitchen, parlour, two bedrooms, and the usual offices. In some London libraries very liberal provision has been made for librarians living on the premises, the accommodation consisting of three large living rooms, four or five bedrooms, kitchen, scullery, bathroom and other offices. The whole question of residence or non-residence is one for library authorities to decide for themselves, but the matter is another proof of the necessity which exists for appointing librarians before buildings are erected.
72. Superannuation.—There is no general law at present under which public librarians can retire on a pension after a certain age has been reached. Some towns have made separate arrangements for the superannuation of all their officers, but even this is far from common. The National Association of Local Government Officers, which deserves the support of librarians and committees, has a Bill before Parliament, the object of which is to procure for municipal officers the same regulations as to superannuation as are in force for poor-law officers, but this has not yet passed into law.
73. Conditions of Librarian’s Appointment.—There are several points requiring notice in connexion with the conditions upon which librarians are appointed. It is not usual to draw up a formal agreement, but if this is done it should be executed by a solicitor, and specify the principal obligations, terms and duration of the appointment.
1. In large libraries it is usual to stipulate that the librarian must devote the whole of his or her TIME to the duties of the office. This simply means that no other office can be held concurrently, but particularly a paid office. A librarian’s private time can be devoted to any hobby he chooses, be it gardening, cycling, photography, literature, music or sport. Provided, always, such recreations do not render a librarian less fit for his public duty. Official time occupied in any work which has for its object improvement in professional knowledge should be allowed within reasonable limits. Attendances at meetings called for professional purposes, or visits to other places for the purpose of acquiring professional knowledge, would, we take it, be considered quite legitimate. Where a certain number of hours daily or weekly has been fixed, the question of the disposal of a librarian’s leisure time will not arise.
2. Notice of intention to DETERMINE AN APPOINTMENT might be stipulated for in an agreement. The usual practice is one month’s notice on either side.
3. A public librarian who handles public money should be required to obtain security from a recognized guarantee office. The amount insured against will generally be fully covered by a sum equal to 10 per cent. of the annual income of the library. Thus, a library with an income of £2000 should make £200 the insurable sum, as this will cover any possible defalcations of the librarians, who, under any circumstances, in such a library, can never handle more than about £60 or £70 in the course of one month. The premium for municipal officers averages about 5s. per cent., and, of course, the library authority should make the annual payments to keep the policy alive.
4. The VACATION allowed to librarians varies with the conditions of each place. In some cases five weeks are allowed, irrespective of the time occupied by conferences or other annual meetings. Usually four weeks are given. As a rule, committees will not be found niggardly in this matter when they have an officer whom they can respect and trust. In American libraries a month is often allowed, and in some cases much longer periods.
5. The only ANNUAL CONFERENCES of any importance in connexion with public library work are those of the Library Association and the Museums Association. Practice differs as regards libraries sending delegates to the annual conferences of the Library Association. In some cases where a library is a subscribing member, and, in addition, the librarian is also a member in his own name, it sends a member of the committee and the librarian, and pays their expenses. In other cases the librarian alone is sent, and his expenses paid. In still other cases the librarian is allowed the time to attend, but has to pay his own expenses; while, sometimes, the chairman of committee attends, and either pays his own expenses or has them paid by the committee.
Every library which desires to keep abreast with modern ideas in library work should send its librarian to the annual conferences of the Library Association, and pay his expenses. All public libraries should[80] join this association as institution members, and their librarian will naturally be a member in his own right. There is more knowledge and good obtained by a librarian coming into personal touch with other librarians during a conference week than can ever be achieved in a state of hermit-like seclusion. The sum spent on a library conference to insure a librarian’s attendance is by far the most profitable investment a library committee can make in a single year.
Some doubt exists as to whether members of committee can be sent at the expense of the library rate, and, so far as parishes are concerned, it has been decided by the district auditors that they can not be sent unless at their own personal expense. Municipal boroughs have power to send committee delegates if so disposed, but the matter remains doubtful as regards Urban District Councils.
74. Duties of the Librarian.—The duties of a librarian practically cover every section of this Manual, and it is therefore needless to go over the same ground here. It may be assumed, however, that the librarian also acts as clerk to his committee, and a few of the more personal duties of the librarian may be specified. It has been recommended that a librarian should act as clerk, and some reasons may be given why this course should always be taken. The librarian is the only official who holds all the threads of work and routine in his hands or who thoroughly understands the practical working of the institution. By combining the functions he remains in touch with his committee, and can much better understand their views than if a second person acts as intermediary or interpreter. The plan is also more economical, as town clerks sometimes take a salary for acting as clerk to the library committee, or charge a proportion of office expenses to the library. Both courses are quite unnecessary. It is not desirable, when a library committee has obtained a complete or partial delegation of powers, to have its work controlled or interfered with by another municipal department. Even when a library committee remains but an ordinary committee of a local authority, it is not desirable for the town clerk to do more than depute a junior clerk to attend meetings for the sole purpose of recording minutes. The chairman and librarian should call all meetings and arrange all necessary business. It is too often overlooked that library committees are appointed to carry out special work under a special Act of Parliament, and that, in consequence, they are performing duties outside the ordinary routine of municipal work.
75. The following summary of the more important duties of the librarian is applicable to the average library, but must be adjusted considerably in large libraries, where the chief librarian is mainly an administrator. Such large libraries have special departmental experts, and it is clear that over many of these items the chief librarian can exercise only a general supervision. Where there are large trained staffs he should avoid details and concern himself with the general direction of all departments; otherwise he will become immersed impossibly in minutiæ to the great detriment of the library service as a whole:
1. He must superintend and prepare all the business for the library committee, including summoning meetings, preparing agendas, checking accounts, compiling lists of books, preparing reports and taking minutes of proceedings.
2. He must attend all committee meetings, and such of the local authority meetings as may be fixed.
3. He must prepare all specifications for contracts, and bring forward in plenty of time all business which arises regularly, either monthly, quarterly or annually.
4. He should sign all orders and be responsible for all correspondence connected with the library. He should keep copies of all orders and important letters, as well as copies of any specifications or other documents.
5. He must fix the time, duties and daily work of the staff, and superintend and check their attendance and work in every department.
6. He must see that order is maintained among readers throughout the main building and branches, and that the rules are enforced within reason, and that the opening and closing of the library are done punctually.
7. He must carefully supervise the selection of books and periodicals for addition to the library, and examine all necessary lists, catalogues and reviews for that purpose.
8. He should check all cataloguing and classification work.
9. He should be prepared when called upon to aid readers, as far as possible, in any line of research, and should be easily accessible at all times when on duty.
76. The Librarian.
Cowell, Peter. Public Library Staffs, 1893. L.A. Series, 3.
Fletcher, W. J. The Librarian: His Work and Training for It. In his Public Libraries in America, 1894, p. 80.
Hardy, E. A. The Librarian. In his The Public Library, 1912, p. 109.
Hulme, E. W. Ideals Old and New, 1914. Library Assistants’ Association, Series 5.
Baldwin, E. V. Library Service. A.L.A., Man. of Lib. Econ. Preprint of Chapter xiv., 1914.
For articles, see Cannons, E 13-43, Librarianship.
77. Library Training.
Baker, E. A. Education and Training of Librarians. In Library Association. Public Libraries: Their Development and Future Organization, 1917, p. 89.
Brown, J. D. Guide to Librarianship, 1909.
Library Association. Information relating to the Professional Examinations and Syllabus, 1919. (Issued annually as a rule.)
University College, London. Prospectus of School of Librarianship (in the Press—June 1919).
The American libraries or universities of Atlanta, Brooklyn, California, Cleveland (Univ.), Illinois, Michigan, New York (State), Drexel Inst., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St Louis, and others have library schools, which issue periodical calendars and circulars of information of a suggestive kind. There are about forty such library schools.
For articles, see Cannons, E 26-28, Assistants, Qualifications, Training, etc.; A 135-175, Library Schools in America.
78. General.—The organization of the library staff under the chief librarian is naturally governed by the number of assistants and the size of the system they work. Most libraries have a second qualified librarian who is variously called Deputy-Librarian or Sub-Librarian [or sometimes he is called Chief Assistant Librarian, Deputy Chief Librarian, or, more rarely in England, Vice-Librarian. There is still considerable confusion in the nomenclature of library offices, and it would be well if a uniform system were adopted. (See Appendix I.)]. Large libraries have, in addition, a hierarchy of assistants, as follows: 1. A Superintendent of Branches, where there are several libraries in the system, as at Birmingham, Glasgow, etc.; 2. Librarians-in-Charge of the several departments; 3. Branch Librarians; 4. Senior assistants; 5. Junior assistants. The qualifications of Deputy, Superintendent of Branches, Librarians-in-Charge and Branch Librarians differ from those of the Chief Librarian in degree rather than in kind, and to these positions only trained men should be appointed. In many cases they are appointed from staff, not always to the benefit of the library. It is a sound plan to throw open all the higher appointments in libraries to competition, in which competition, of course, any member of the existing staff should be allowed, without prejudice, to compete. One of the mistaken policies, especially of large libraries, has been to promote men because of mere length of service. Such service is undoubtedly valuable, but is not necessarily a proof of qualification for higher library positions.
79. Deputy-Librarian.—It may be affirmed that appointments to any senior position should be subject to the same principles, and to conditions similar to those governing the appointment of chief librarians. In small libraries the means at the disposal of the committee do not always permit of a salary sufficient to attract a diplomate of the Library Association, or a man similarly qualified, but no assistant who is inexperienced or is without the certificates of the Library Association should ever be appointed to the important position of Deputy-Librarian. The duties of the Deputy-Librarian comprise the whole administration of the library system under the chief librarian, the general supervision of every department, and the direction of the duties of the whole staff. He becomes acting-chief librarian in every absence of his principal, and should be qualified to assume this position both by his knowledge and his personality. It is therefore clear that his technical training must in general be as sound and catholic as that of his chief; and in addition to this quality, he should possess initiative, disciplinary powers, discretion, and loyalty to his chief and to the existing system. In detail his duties will vary according to the size of the system; and in small libraries he will be merely the superior assistant, taking part in every operation (except the merely mechanical ones, which may be performed by untrained juniors) of the library; in somewhat larger libraries he may arrange the hours and duties of the staff and superintend them, and check all cataloguing and classification. In the largest libraries his work is almost purely administrative.
The conditions of the appointment of a Deputy-Librarian are somewhat difficult to describe, owing to the divergences we have named. He usually, but not always, works similar hours to the remainder of the staff; has his own office, or, at any rate, private desk; and is usually invested with considerable authority. It should be the aim of the chief librarian to make this office a worthy one—and to see that only worthy persons occupy it. A good deputy gives tone to the whole staff, as he comes into more intimate contact with it than the chief librarian. The salaries paid to Deputy-Librarians are again matters which vary; they range from £100 to £300, and in a few places to much higher sums than this. [In the last edition it was laid down that the deputy should receive a maximum of not less than half of that of the chief; but we think any dogmatic statement of that kind objectionable, as being subject to numberless variations in various places.]
80. Superintendent of Branches.—This librarian acts as a liaison officer between the chief librarian and the branch librarian in systems where there are many branch libraries. He must be qualified to assess the work of each library and to co-ordinate the whole branch system, to look over time-sheets, examine into the performance of the assistants, judge their capacity and training, advise as to the books required in particular localities, and, in general, make the units of the system smooth-working parts of a homogenous whole. It is probable that a capable superintendent is an economy of some consequence in a large system. Few libraries, however, with less than a dozen branches possess such an officer, his duties usually in other cases falling upon the chief or deputy librarians. The superintendent is subordinate to the deputy-librarian, and his salary is something more than that of a branch or departmental librarian.
81. Departmental Librarians.—Of recent years the tendency in library work has been towards specialization, and in most libraries of any size assistants are given more or less permanent charge of departments, and are usually called librarians-in-charge. The librarian of a branch library falls into this category although he may not occupy exactly the same level on the staff as the librarian-in-charge of the reference library; as, also, in libraries which have such departments, does the head of the cataloguing staff, the order division, etc. In the great libraries the librarian-in-charge of the reference department is easily the head of the grade we are discussing, as he must obviously be a person of considerable bibliographical acquirements in addition to being the possessor of a complete library training, and his work lies with inquirers, research workers, and similar readers who require skilled and sympathetic assistance. In the majority of libraries all librarians-in-charge are regarded as official equals. Their salaries are obviously governed by the wealth and work of the library concerned, but a rough calculation ranges them at from the inadequate minimum of £90 to about £250 or more, with many intermediate scales. The duties of a librarian-in-charge involve the responsibility of conducting the department according to the prevailing library policy, the arranging of the duties of the staff and the seeing that they are performed, the training of the staff, the maintenance of order in public rooms, and the exploiting of the department to the utmost in the interest of the public.
82. Library Councils.—In some libraries the chief librarians have formed the deputy-librarian, the superintendent of branches and the librarians-in-charge into a committee which is variously named, but is commonly called by the large name of the Library Council, which meets weekly or monthly in the chief librarian’s office and discusses the current methods of the library system and the means whereby its activities may be improved and its influence extended. Such a council has necessarily only a consultative function, and all decisions it reaches are subject to the chief librarian. Regular agenda are often used and minutes kept of such meetings, and they are surprisingly fruitful in useful and practical suggestions. Even quite impractical suggestions should be encouraged at such meetings, as they often throw light on the general work and lead to other suggestions of a useful character. More and more both in this country and in America the chief librarians are taking their senior colleagues into their confidence in this way, and thus a community of interest is created and an enthusiasm is fostered which are well worth having.
83. Assistants.—In America the library assistant is in the best instances a person who is a graduate of a college or who has had a high school education; who, in addition, has taken a course of one year, or, in special instances, two years at a library school. Not all or even the majority of assistants are of this type, as the American library is unable to afford a large number of workers so highly qualified. On this side of the Atlantic the American system is an impossible ideal in existing circumstances; not one library in the kingdom—except, occasionally, the Government libraries—could pay the initial salaries which such training should command. Indeed, the whole question of staffing libraries is affected in most adverse manner by the inadequacy of library incomes. Assistants must as a rule be chosen from amongst young people just leaving school—often Council elementary or secondary schools. They are therefore people in almost every sense, except, it may be, natural ability, incapable at the beginning of their library career of anything more than the mere mechanical tasks. They have to be educated before they are trained technically in most cases. To secure the right material it is becoming the practice to demand of candidates for library work a fair general knowledge, and the Library Association has asked that some such certificate as matriculation, or the Oxford and Cambridge Locals, should be required of them. Where the supply of candidates so qualified does not exist, the chief librarian sets a simple qualifying examination paper to test the common sense and education of candidates. Appointments are usually made for a probationary period of about three months, at the end of which time it is possible to judge in a rough way whether the youngster will benefit by library training or not. Owing to the limited prospects the work offers the librarian has a moral obligation to see that appointees who are unsuitable are encouraged to seek other occupations as soon as their unfitness for librarianship is proven. Where both sexes are employed exactly the same type of qualifications should be required from each, and equal remuneration should be paid. The smaller salaries sometimes offered to girls have ill results both upon the individual candidates and upon the library.
84. Hours.—The last exhaustive inquiry into the hours worked by municipal library assistants was made by the Library Assistants’ Association in 1911, who embodied its results in a valuable report. Hours are naturally influenced by the prevailing length of working-time in commerce and in other walks of life. The average number worked in libraries in 1908 was 48 weekly; in 1911 it was 45·22; but the tendency is to make it 42 hours. The difficulties which face a librarian in arranging a time-sheet are that he has usually too small a staff, and cannot afford a larger one, and that the library is in many or all of its departments open from twelve to fourteen hours daily. This involves evening work on several days in the week, and means that the hours are irregular and broken. At the same time the nature of library work is exacting, and much more efficient work can be expected from a seven-hours’, or even shorter, day than from a longer one. Study, recreation and social experience are absolutely necessary for successful work; and time-sheets should be arranged to make these possible. There is no excuse whatever for the at one time prevailing time-sheets which required assistants to work from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with an interval of 11⁄2 hours for dinner and a similar interval for tea. The librarian whose staff is so small that these hours are necessary to keep the library open is attempting at the expense of the health and whole natural life of his staff to do more work than the community has a right to expect. Even with the seven-hour day the broken hours involved form the least attractive feature of library work. The time-sheet suggested by the Library Assistants’ Association is given as a practical solution of some of the difficulties we have enumerated—not as an ideal but as the result of experience. It provides for a half-holiday weekly and for hours of recreation and study. It should be the aim to make the use of the sheet regular, so that every assistant may know what evenings, for example, he has at his disposal throughout the year. Modifications are sometimes made during the summer months, when the work is slacker, in the direction of giving the assistants more free time.
SUGGESTED TIME-SHEET (LIBRARY ASSISTANTS’ ASSOCIATION)
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Thursday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| B | B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| C | 8.45 | C | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| D | D | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| E | E | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| F | F | 8.45 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| G | G | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| H | H | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday | Friday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| B | B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| C | C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| D | 8.45 | D | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| E | E | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| F | F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| G | G | 8.45 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| H | H | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday | Saturday | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| B | B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| C | C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| D | D | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| E | 8.45 | E | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| F | F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| G | G | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| H | H | 8.45 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fig. 6 (Section 84).
Hours of duty 42 per week. Each assistant has a half-day and an evening off, works one night until 10 o’clock, and comes on one morning at 8.45. The library is assumed to be open all the week, and where an early-closing day is in vogue, the time-sheet is simplified by confining nearly all the half-holidays to that day.
The time-sheet would be much improved if 5 p.m. were substituted for 6 p.m. on the evening off; an assistant leaving at 6, after he has had a meal, has very little evening left. It should be the endeavour so to adjust the sheet that each assistant is off every other evening, the half-day counting as one. Local circumstances will suggest variations, which can easily be made.
85. The whole staff question, so far as junior assistants are concerned, may be modified by the Education Act of 1918. This has raised the age at which children may leave school, and requires of them part-study until the age of 18. Seeing that the juniors at present engaged are of 14 years and upwards, this may mean duplicate junior staffs, with accompanying problems of remuneration. It may be that specialized library training may be accepted in lieu of the continuation classes contemplated by the Act. But the matter is at present in a state of transition, and we can only indicate the new problem.
86. Sunday Work.—Some libraries remain open on Sundays and on public holidays, usually for a part of the day. About half of these pay extra remuneration for hours worked on these days; others allow time off through the week for it; and in one or two places Hebrew assistants are specially employed for Sunday duty.
87. Junior Assistant.—The work of the assistant in his first library years is largely mechanical: the preparing of books for circulating; labelling, card-writing, tagging; keeping shelves in order and replacing returned books; charging and issue-desk work of the simpler kind. There is much work in every library of this unskilled character which forms a useful training in business habits, order, regularity, etc. It is unfortunate, however, that the smallness of staffs often makes it necessary to put the work of issuing books to readers in the hands of juniors. The actual charging of books is indeed a mechanical process, but its performance is carried out at one of the main points of contact with the public where knowledge and experience are of great value. Larger libraries have, as a rule, departmental staffs which are confined to the work of the particular department to which they are accredited. This is undoubtedly the most business-like and economical method; but every assistant should be given the opportunity of learning the work of every department and should be required to do so. This may be done by transferring the assistants at not too lengthy intervals. In smaller libraries this departmental division does not exist, and an assistant may work in the lending library in the morning, in the reference library in the evening, and at a branch to-morrow, just as the exigencies of the service dictate.
88. Senior Assistant.—The name senior assistant is bestowed upon assistants with a few years’ experience and training, including as a rule the possession of two or more certificates of the Library Association. They occupy a position somewhat analogous to that of non-commissioned officers, and act as reliefs to the librarians-in-charge. Often they are made responsible for some branch of the routine, as, for example, book-binding, defaulters, registration of borrowers, etc., and this is a good method, provided that any one assistant is not confined rigidly and for too long to one task. A sense of responsibility is a useful quality which can be fostered in this way. Usually senior assistants are promoted from the junior staff, but not always; and it is becoming a general condition of promotion to this grade that the candidate shall have taken some part of the Library Association course. Promotion should never be made unless the candidate has shown a disposition to qualify in some such manner.
89. Work Book.—It is a good plan to use a work book or duty book, in which the daily duties of each assistant can be entered. By means of such a book it is easy to change the work about, in order to give every assistant an opportunity of doing everything in turn; and it is necessary because of the changes worked on the composition of the staff by the time-sheet. A good form of work book for a library where the staff is not departmental is shown in the ruling below, which can be adjusted to meet the conditions in large libraries. The names or numbers of the assistants are written or printed in the margin, and against these the particular duty, or set of duties, to be performed that day are written. This book is generally made up by the deputy-librarian and checked by the librarian. In small libraries the librarian can write up this record. Apart from its value as a simple means of distributing and fixing duties, it makes a capital record of visitors or callers, errors, absences of staff, progress of certain pieces of work, checks of various kinds, and may even be used as a staff time-book. The form given on page 92 (Fig. 7) is a guide to the work of a library and a check upon results. For convenience’ sake the assistants are numbered in order of seniority.