Part 15 (2/2)

All the departments still control the distribution of their own publications, the superintendent of doc.u.ments only distributing the sheep set, and such of the department publications as have been turned over to him by the departments for this purpose, or of which there have been remainders. Sometimes the number of copies of its own publications allotted to the department is very small and soon exhausted.

Librarians and others who want full information about the distribution, present methods of issue, etc., of public doc.u.ments, should send for the First annual report of the superintendent of doc.u.ments. In addition there have been issued from his office, since its establishment in March, 1895, a check list of public doc.u.ments, and since January, 1895, a monthly catalog of current publications.

Both are mailed free upon application.

Care in a library

The question of the most economical, and at the same time satisfactory manner of caring for doc.u.ments in a library, cannot be considered in the s.p.a.ce of so brief an article as this necessarily must be. After all, it is a question that must be settled by each library for itself, since it rests chiefly upon the extent to which the library can afford duplication.

Depository libraries have better opportunities than others for filling up the sheep set, and having this set they have the greater portion of those doc.u.ments useful to the average library. A complete sheep set from the 15th Congress to the close of the 53d Congress numbers slightly over 3343V., and will require 860 feet of shelving, or six modern iron book stacks.

Though it is done in a few cases, the subject cla.s.sification of the sheep set is not to be recommended. Where subject cla.s.sification, or the incorporation of the doc.u.ments in the general library, is desired, the cloth set is preferable, and is in most cases procurable. If a library can afford shelf room for both, it will be found more satisfactory to keep the sheep set intact, and to make a selection of such reports from the cloth set as will be locally useful to the library.

No small library should undertake to acquire any doc.u.ments but those for which it has an actual use; only the largest libraries can afford the task of filling up sets of doc.u.ments simply for the sake of having a complete record.

Small libraries, and all libraries in need of any special report or doc.u.ment, can get it, in most cases, by applying to the superintendent of doc.u.ments. Return all your duplicates to the superintendent of doc.u.ments; arrangements for their transportation will be made by him upon notification, and anything he has that is needed will be sent in exchange.

Do not try to collect a complete set of government doc.u.ments; the government of the United States has not yet been able to do that.

CHAPTER x.x.x

Checking the library

Check the library over occasionally. It need not be done every year.

It is an expensive thing to do, in time, and is not of great value when done; but now and then it must be gone through with. It is not necessary to close the library for this purpose. Take one department at a time and check it by the shelf-list. Make a careful list of all books missing. Check this list by the charging slips at the counter.

For those still missing make a general but hasty search through the library. Go over each part of the library in this way. Then compile all lists of missing books into one list, arranged in the order of their call-numbers. Once or twice a week for several months go over the library with this list, looking for missing books. Even with access to the shelves, and with great freedom in matters of circulation, not many books will be found missing, under ordinary circ.u.mstances, at the end of a six months' search. Such books as are still missing at the end of any given period, together with those that have been discarded as worn out, and those that have been lost by borrowers, should be properly marked on the shelf-list, and should have an entry in the accession book, stating what has become of them.

If they are not replaced, it will be advisable to withdraw the cards representing them from the card catalog, or to write on the cards the fact of withdrawal and the cause.

Keep a record of all books withdrawn from the library for whatever reason.

CHAPTER x.x.xI

Lists, bulletins, printed catalog

Give the public access to the card catalog if possible. If a dictionary catalog is made it will prove to be most helpful to the serious students. For the average reader, the person who wishes to get a recent book, the latest novel, etc., prepare lists of additions from month to month, post them up in some convenient place in the library, and put them in a binder to be left on desk or table in the delivery room.

Print lists of additions, if possible, in the local papers; also publish reference lists having to do with current events and matters of popular interest. Oftentimes the newspapers will furnish, for a small sum, extra copies of the lists which they have printed. If the means warrant the expenditure, a periodical bulletin, appearing once a month, or even oftener, containing information about the library, notes on recent additions, suggestions as to the use of books, lists on special subjects, and lists of books lately added may prove useful.

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