OUR PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2483, 22 March 1882, Page 3

OUR PUBLIC LIBRARY.

To the Editor of the Olohe. PiR—A few reasons why the circulating department is not a success : Firotly—lt is not kept judiciously supplied with fresh books at short intervale after publication. It frequently happens that when the new (?) books are ready for issue to tho subscribers they have been pro curable at the booksellers’ shops here months before. Secondly—The selection of the books is bad ; there is no knowledge of either books or autho s evinced by the class of books which form the majority of the supply, neither ia it apparent that even ordinary judgment has been exercised, for of the few good works that are received the copies are equally few, and of the numerous ordinary works the copies are in equal ratio numerous. Thirdly—The apparently good books by nopular authors that are frequently seen favorably criticised by tho Rome papers are saldom or never seen In the library, or, when seen, have by the effluxion of tlmo become comparatively stale. Fourthly—The books that are considered to bo quite up to tho standard of our library are generally cheac editions, with inferior type and paper, which in the hands of the present management are substituted for the original three volume edition, with good type and paper, which the librarians in the old country consider it necessary to provide for their subscribers, and which, with “ a knowledge of these things,” could be obtained here, at an earlier date, and frequently, if not always, at a lower cost than the inferior ones. (I am informed that it le some years since that even Napier made the discovery that onr book agent at home was not sufficiently up to the mark for them, and they, being sensible people, and knowing something of the work, appointed a fresh oce ; he, however, still meets the requirements of our management ) Fifthly—When a book ia once removed from the library, it is impossible, or so nearly impossible as to be almost equivalent to quite impossible, to toll whether the book has been taken by a subscriber or stolen. Sixthly—ln the event of a subscriber requiring a certain book, all the Information that can be given cf its whereabouts, if it is not on the shelves of the library, is, that it is out. It ia not known when it was taken ont—when it ia likely to be returned—or in whose possession it is. Seventhly—There Is no system yet inatitnted by which the relative circnlation of the works on diffe ent subjects, or authors, can bo estimated. Up to the present time it would be a mere matter of guess work, without any data to go upon, to tell what relation the demand for, tay works of fiction, travel history, ecienoe, &0., bore to one another, nor which authors were the most popular; and, without which information, it must ba obvious to the meanest capacity it is impossible to keep the library sni plied with the requisite proportion of each individual subject or author. Eightbly—The catalogue as it is compiled, ia not under the circc in stances of sufficient practical value to subscribers. In a library where tho frequenters are permitted to make their own selections from tho bookshelves, atid where tho books are not numbered, the catalogue should bo so arranged as to enable the subscribers to fiad without '■'ifficuHy the actual position of any book. This, however, is rot a matter of absolute necessity ; but it io one of those little aidi and attentions to the convenience of subscribers that go so far in making a library not only popu’ar but also a commercial success, and is a simple matter of arrangement.

ninthly--The ‘‘suggestion book.” Tho estimate of tho practical utility of this b'ok as formed, evidently from expedience, by the subscribers, is made very apparent by the fact that dating the past five years the average par annum of suggestions entered therein amount to the ridiculous number of about twentv, and even out of those few it is not known if any of them has received the attention and consideration of the management. It is even an open question whether the took does really appear at tho periodical meetings of the committee, for there are no stops taken to inform those persons suggesting whether ihelr suggestions have been favorably noticed or not, by certain marks made against them, as is usually the custom elsewhere, and it is particularly necessary when all proceedings aro carried on ‘‘in committee.” It Is surpri-ing that as a matter rf more cou.-teey this has not long ago suggested itself to tho management. The stereotyped excuse “ want of funds” is not admissible, or, in tho main, is it the truth, and subscribers are beginning to realise the deplorable fact that it is not so much the “ want of funds” as the want of “ the know how” that has caused our library to obtain tho undesirable character it now has.

Having already trespassed too much on your valuable space I will not here refer to the librarian or tho manner in which, or whore, his multifarious duties aro conducted j this, and other things relating to tho affaire of the library, I will leave to another oppornity ; and, in closing, I will merely ask—if it ia not going out of tho way to ask —bow the above can be denominated “management” ? QUia CUSTODIET OUSTODE3.