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Special Libraries, 1925 Special Libraries, 1920s

10-1-1925

Special Libraries, October 1925

Special Libraries Association

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Vol. 16 October, 1925 No. 8

Address of Welcome By Charles F. D. Belden, Director, Boston Public Library

OUR years ago this morning it was analyses, arranges, and keeps this se- F my privilege to address a joint session lected knowledge only as long as it is of of the American Library Association and value. It is a business method-for the the Special Libraries Association on needs of the busy executive. "Co-operation Between the Public and 1 would suggest a distinction between Special Libraries." At that time there special collections-books and materials was still doubt in the minds of many as on certain subjects which may or may to whether the two instttutions were not not form a part of the material to be trying to parallel one another. There found in a public library, or in a library was said to be grounds for ill-mill and devoted to a particular subject-and the jealousies on the part of certain elder rather more specialized collections which librarians, because the younger brother- serve a business, a profession, a manu- hood encouraged new ways and methods. facturer or a corporation, functioning in I tried to defipe the several functions of the civilization of a most complex age. the special and the public library and in- Your ways are clear and direct; your dicated where, in certain fundamental field is your own. I only bespeak on purposes they differed and emphasized your pari a larger co-operation with the the distinct objectives of each. Happily, public library; use what it can offer; today a better understanding exists. It avoid when possible duplication of ma- is universally admitted that the special terial and effort ; co-ordinate your activi- library has its definite place in the dif- ties with those of the public library. I fusion of Icnowledge-a place it is filling believe you have fcund the librarians of with increasing distinction. public libraries willing helpmates. Cer- The growth of the special library, as tainly, we look more and more to you as Mr. Dana has stated, is the outstanding specialists, as what our good friend Lee feature of library history in the past fif- might call "sponsors for specialized teen years. It is a record of which YOU knowledge." should justly be proud, and yet, I be- In conclusion may I ask your aid in lieve that you are only on the threshold meeting and solving the problem of adult of larger opportunities of service. YOU education through the library. Here, are the seekers out and the custodians somewhat beyond your specific duties, of what has been called "fact informa- lies a great opportunity for service to tion." Your chief duty is to cull out the employees of your organization. and make instantly available, largely Bring to them, with the aid of the public from periodicals, pamphlets and reports library, supplemented with what you -from what public librarians class as have to offer, increased knowledge, in- ephemeral material, the facts needed by spiration, vision. the organizations for which th'e special It has been a privilege to greet you, libraries were created. Of course, books to have had this opportunity to express too, of a specialized class, are equally my faith in your growing organization, your tools. All this is supplemented- and to wish you God-speed and success and this is of prime importance-by ex- in your unfolding years. pert service, service that examines, 254 SPECIAL LIZ RARIES October, 1915 Response By Miss Rebecca B. Rankin, Librarian, Municipal Reference Library, New York City

ISS RANKIN in responding to the fact of the nomination of Mr. Relden to M address of welcome spoke substan- the presidency of American Library As- tially as follows : sociation augurs particularly well for the Particularly does it please me that Special Libraries Association and Ameri- Mr. Belden brings us this greeting of can Libraries Association for 1926. welcome. Personally my first acquain- There is no one who has a greater un- tance with Mr. Belden came in the lec- derstanding of the library and the libra- ture room at Si~nmons College some rian than has Mr. Belden for many years ago. He is responsible for my in- years. It will mean that not only will terest in documentary work since he was the spirit of co-operation and co-ordina- the one to introduce me to documents tion which has been growing steadily for and I have continued along this line. Not sixteen years increase, hut I am sure the only has the admiration which I have coming year will have an unusual im- for Mr. Belden, increased from year to petus. year, and I speak of it in this personal I, therefore, wish to thank Mr. Belden way because I feel it is reflected in the on behalf of all the members. It pleases feelings of all the special librarians. us that they have chosen to bring us to At this time I am sure that we all are this beautiful spot which we New most happy to lcnow that Mr. Belden has Yorlcers feel is the most delightful place, been chosen as the nominee for the presi- and it also pleases me to meet with the dency of American Library Association New England librarians. for the coming year. I am sure that this

Announcement This number contains the proceedings The material is arranged as follows: of the conference insofar as the mate- 1) Addresses at the general sessions; rial is available. Addresses by Robert 2) Group Meetings; 3) Business Ses- L. O'Rrien and Thomas Coulson were sion ; 4) Reports of Officers and Commit- extemporaieous and were summarized tees with the exception of the president's in the July issue. address which was printed in the July The address by H. Nathaniel Dowse issue; 5) Summarized reports from the "Revolution Through Research in Busi- local chapters. ness," will appear in the November issue. In addition a certain amount of Asso- Some of the talks before the various ciation news is included in the issue, but groups were informal or introductory to a large proportion of this copy will be visual presentation and therefore have' printed in the November number. not been included.

Special Libraries Editorial office, State Library, Providence, R. I. Publishing office, 958 University Ave.. New York City. Treasurer's office, 195 Broadwry, New York City. All payments should be made to Mhr Gertrude D. Peterkin, Trearurcr, October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 2 55 Relation of Information and Research to Industrial, Commercial and Agricultural Development By Sidney B. Haskell, Director, Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station

HE best picture of agricultural de- for export to balance our own imports T velopn~ent made possible, first by of agricultural products. Twenty years the discovery of new facts, and secondly later, with about the same balance of by the recording of these facts in such trade in food and fiber, the total percen- ways as to make them usable, is por- tage of our workers so engaged was only trayed by comparisons of numbers of 26. Ilad the production standards of people required at different stages in 1900 prevailed in 1920, four million more history to produce a sufficiency of food men and women WOLI~~have been re- and fiber. qnired in the farming industries than There was a time in the early days were actually so engaged. Nowhere of the colony when nearly everyone of does history show any more rapid change. necessity had to engage in some form of The end is not yet. agricultural endeavor. The minister was an exception, so also was the soldier and Agencies for Acquiring Inf or~nationnnd later on the teacher. In their odd mo- Determining New Facfs ments, however, all three had to farm in Perhaps the greatest agency for de- order to eke out their scanty salary termining fact as applied to agriculture recompense. In those early days, of is the experience gained by hard en- course, the productive ,efficiency of the deavor., Slowly, painfully, is this experi- individual engaged in farming was rela- ence passed on from neighbor to neigh- tively small. Few men, very few in fact, bor and from father to son Seldom is could be spared for education, for medi- it recorded in an effective way. Perhaps cine, for engineering, for manufacture- for this reason special libraries along for any of these things which minister agricultural lines are comparatively re- so greatly to human comfort. cent in their organization. They had to Compare the living conditions in the be, for much of the fact on which prog- early colony days with those which we ress was made savored of tradition and have at the present. Through the in- was not made a matter of written record. creasing efficiency on the farm, men and Of official agencies which aim to do women have been released to do many of for agriculture what it cannot economi- those things which make life more worth cally do for itself, there are manv. First living. Roads have been built, schools comes the great United States Depart- constructed, hospitals provided for, time ment of Agriculture, which aims to in- given to our yotith to gain an education. vestigate problems of regional, national Few of these things would have been pos- and international scope. Ably supple- sible had it not been for the application menting the efforts of this vast and far- of science to the primitive arts of fartn- reaching organization are those of the ing. This process has extended over the several state agricultural experiment sta- centuries, but not until most recent years tions, such as the one which I have the has it been marked. Perhaps the most honor to represent. Facts of certain rapid progress has been made within the kinds are also determined by state de- last quarter of a century. At the time partments of agriculture. Of no small of the 1900 census, 37 per cent, of the significance are the facts developed total working population of the country through research agencies in various was engaged in farming-and at that business organizations. In this connec- could do little more than produce a suf- tion we need only mention the work of diciency to meet our needs, with a margin the International Harvester Company, of the National Canners' Association, and this art was commercialized, and in this of the National Fertilizer Association to process were the beginnings of the nur- give some idea of the scope of these or- sery industry. ganizations. ~urser~menas a rule are of the same There is in Rome the International In- human clay as all the rest of us. Typi- stitute of Agriculture which aims to col- cally they are honest, but subject to lect agricultural statistics for the whole temptation. A difficulty arose in that of the civilized world, and through them with rather disheartening frequency trees to remove from our farming industry one purchased as being of certain varieties of its great hazards, ie., the difficulty failed to "come true to name." Only of gauging the market. The great scien- those who have been through it can ap- tific societies such as the American As- preciate the heartburning which comes sociation for the Advancement of Science when a man has purchased trees for his now recognize agriculture in a formal orchard, has invisted time and money in way, while agriculture itself has a num- their care, has tended them over a period ber of scientific organizations serving one of years, and then, when the first, long- or another of itsmany branches. Various delayed fruiting year comes around, finds privately endowed organizations such as his trees of varieties other than he had the Boyce-Thompson Institute for Plant anticipated. Only recently has this dif- Research are doing effective work in the ficulty been remedied, and as it happens more scientific phases of the problem. by a piece of work done at our own Finally, a vast amount is being accom- Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment plished thl-ough the graduate schools of Station. One of our workers felt that endowed and publicly supported univer- there must be a differcnce between a sities and through private initiative. The Baldwin and a Russet, or between a range of agencies which now participate Gravenstein and a McIntosh, other than in thls work is indeed immense. simply in the fruit. He believed that these differences could be seen if only our How Science Works in Its Agricdtural powers of observation were fine enough. Applications For seven long years, he spent a part of his time in studying the leaves of apple I fear it will be impossible to give to trees, and finally was able to put down on you an adequate appreciation of how far- paper the difference in the foliage of our reaching is the significance of this scien- standard varieties of apples. This has tific work. The subject assigned me is made possible the weeding out of mis- indeed far larger than the speaker. I named trees in our nursery rows and has shall attempt it, however, through the remedied an evil of long standing. medium of a concrete illustration-by But even with a variety al)soluteIy portl-aying the ramifications of science known there arc many other problems with reference to our con~rnercialorchard on which speclfic I~nowledgeis needed. industry-an industry known to every- The relation of soil and variety, of cli- one. mate and variety, of market and variety, There is a vast difference between must all be determined, also thc numer- apples in a state of nature, with trees of ous problems of feeding the tree, of varieties as they happen to come from pruning it, and in other ways of caring seed, growing in competition with all for the crop. other plants, and apples which we pus- There may have been a time, genera- chase from the market, carefully grown, tions, ccntu~-ies,or eons ago, when the carefully graded, carefully packed, effi- competition between living things was ciently stored, and well worth the eating. not as severe as it is today. A great It was years back that through the de- present problem of the agriculturist is te velopment of the art of grafting and of secure the products of his labor rather budding it was first possible to have an than to allow it to fall a prey to insect orchard of known, named varieties of and disease. We now must fight the apples. The better farmers who early codling moth, the San Jose and oyster learned the art taught it to others. Later shell and other scales, the brown tail October, 1915 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 257 moth, the gypsy moth, the tent cater- Neither would it have been possible for pillar, and the red humped caterpillar, the country to have released men for its aphids, red bugs, borers, curculios, great automobile and other relatively leaf hoppers, maggots, web worms, new induslries, were it not for the and others almost litel-ally too nuinerous of the scientist in developing higher pro- to mention. Yet all of these are today ducing varieties of grains and other being controlled in the commercial or- crops, ancl better animals for our meat chard, with control made possible by the md milk producing herds. The study of application of science to this single the life liistory of the mosquito has made branch of agricultural endeavor. Among country life in nlany districts mose diseases, we tmst combat scab, soft, bit- worth-while. The study of such diseases ter and black rots, galls, blights, blotches, AS bovine tuberculosis ancl hog cholera, and still others. For physiological and of such insects as the southern cattle troubles, we have frost injury, sun tick has operated to reduce greatly losses scald, malnutrition. In the field of zo- incident to the production of certain ology we have mice, deer, rabbits, grouse staple foods. In fact, there is scarcely and partridge, huinan thieves. In the a farmer in the whole length and breadth field of economics we face problems of of the country but who, consciously or taxation, of marketing rules and regu- unconsciously, malces daily use of the re- lations, of transportation, of finance and sults of scientific investigation as applied of labor. And yet, when we are done to agriculture. One of the great huinan with the apple industry, we have but a problenls of the da'y is, indeed, that of single industry out of many which go so organizing existing knowledge as to to make up our American agriculture and make possible an even greater utilization. which go to support our American pop- In this work the librarians of the coun- lation. try have a vital part To the inembcl-s of the Special Li- There are places where science has braries Association, this lengthy descrip- failed. By way of illustratiotl, I need tion of a single agricultural industry may only call your attention to our vanished not be germane. I have indulged in it, chestnut forests. Scarcely fifteen years however, to bring out in strong relief the ago came the first rumor of the chestnut fact that the special agricultural library bark cliscase. To a few of us these must be one which not only gives to a rumors caused some anxiety; to others farming population the help which it none, as being typical of the period in needs, arranged and indexed in such a which we live. There came a year, how- way as to make it usable, but which also ever, when trees killed by blight bccaine gives to our chenlists, entomologists, a fact instead of a theory; thcn Iilce a palhologists, physiologists, econon~ists, pestilence the disease spread. Our chest- pomologists, agronomists, and others the nut forcsts are gone T11c greatest working tools which they require in their source of structural timber in the north- efforts to be of assistance to the farming eastern part of the country is lost OUS industry. children are denied what was the supreme joy of our own younger clays-the privi- lege of roaming the chestnut woods in I will close this presentation by point- the fall of the year. Owners of wood- ing out certain of the larger benefits of latlds have suffered financial injury, ir- research and recorded information. Of reparable in many cases Consualer-s of necessity I must deal with these in a wood products are paying the cost in the sketchy and superficial way. form of increased prices Whether the To begin with, it would not be pos- outbreak could have been prevented is a sible for the United States to maintain moot question. Science, at the very its present population, were it not for least, had insufficient time in which to the fact that science has developed meth- worlc. Rut a single case in which failure ods of maintaining and increasing the was our lot is met by a hundred cases crop producing power of the soil. in which success has crowned its efforts- 258 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1915

The Needs of the Future needs of food and fiber. The first is better research, with greater dependence I may perhaps sum this on true science; the second, the spirit of talk my stating three needs, based service to a~~lvtllat research to vital the assumption that in the future as in problems; ;he third, better methods the past our country will have an in- of recording, filing and utilizing the re- creasing population, with ever increasing sults of such research.

Value of Organized Information and Research to a Great Public Utility By Edward Dana, General Manager, Boston Elevated Railway

APPRECIATE very much the cour- Generations succeeded one another with- tesy extended to me this evening. I out the necessity for advancing the art of Iam very glad that you have chosen the transportation. beautiful New England seashose as the New sources of energy and new appli- point to which you journey to hold your cations of old laws require men in a deliberations and I hope that you may single lifetime to learn and assimilate en- enjoy to the fullest ektent your change tirely new systems of facts. Not only of scenery. in the realm of science but in human re- While I am at the present moment lations this has developed the broaden- particularly busy I deem it more or less' ing belief in the essential social purpose of a duty to express in a few words my of business and industry. viewpoint with regard to the justification It is a fact today that most of the dif- for and the advantages of specialized in- ficult problems are now approached by dustrial libraries because as you are the scientific method of analysis and de- aware we have gone far along this line duction and laws governing them are and are enthusiastic supporters of it. constructed. The chief executive of any large or- What' is true in the broad way of pub- ganization has always been called upon lic and business relations is likewise true to make decisions but as years go on he with regard to personnel problems. must deal wtth more complex problems The relation of the management and and he is being called upon to make more the employee, of the owner and con- frequent decisions sumer, takes on a new aspect under Modern business tends to specializa- these specialized, concentrated, modern tion, but modern business in all lines of conditions. industry is today much more inter-de- pendent. Our present industrial condi- What do all these statements indicate? tions liken themselves to a chain which A demand for facts-latest facts-ac- is only as strong as its weakest link. curate facts, in order to meet physical Business and industry today are also problems, technical problcms, financial much more technical. The advancement problems, legislative problems, personnel of science and research has brought this problems; facts for the purpose of form- about. Today we have rapid changes, ing intelligent opinions in order that ac- when methods new yesterday are dis- tion taken may be fair, safe and depend- carded tomorrow. Even whole systems able. develop, mature and decline and are If this be a proper statement of con- superseded in less than a lifetime. ditions and needs then the question There was a time when life was nearly presents itself immediately as to how static. The ox-cart remained for cen- these facts shall be gathered and made turies adequate means of transportation. available. How shall the executive pro- October, 1925 SPEC,IAL LIBRARIES a59

cure for himself and his organization the He should have a general knowledge necessary endless stream of facts? of information sources and the best Should he not be assured that against methods to use to obtain information. the time of imperative need thcre is be- He should have the ability to co-operate ing laid away a store of facts adequate with other information gatherers or to meet the situatioti quickly and com- usem in order to avail himself of all prehensively when the moinent arises. sources of information within the control Logically, in the attempt to answer of others. He should have the ability such a question there needs to be con- not only to produce facts but to have sidered the problem as to the best means sufficient imagination to anticipate the of securing these facts to see whether requirements and the acculntdatiot~ of there is a choice of means. many facts. Will access to data in the hands of in- The executive has the right to expect dividuals outside of his own organiza- that such a librarian has famillasized tion accomplish the purpose ? himself with the problems of the busi- Will a public library w~thits vast ness and has made every effort to have , stores be adequate ? all the desired material available. Will access to any sources of informa- Here the initiative ability and special tion outside the control of the executive training thi-ough constant study and con- accomplish the purpose? stant effort, spells the degree of success which can be hoped for Probably each one of the avenues of access to facts will be utilized but in It is almost superfluous to rnention this present intense industrial develop- the fact that the physical arrangement ment there seems to be very good ground of the library and the efficiency of tllc both in logic and in results for the es- method of finding facts already stored tablishment on large properties of a spc- should be up to the minute in every de- cia1 library controlled ancl operated for tail. A gold mine is of little value until the benefit of the organization. It is as- prospected ancl a vault full of facts is of sumed of course that it also should be little value unless cataloged efficiently made available in a co-operative spirit to An in~portantelement in connection those smaller units not yet having with the specialized library is the fact reached the size to justify, from a finan- that today more than ever hefore a great cial standpoint, such facilities. mass of information is available but this Granted, therefore, that under these great mass of information does not nec- conditions such a library is justified, let essarily represent accurate facts. us pursue the problen~ further and see In other words, when printer's ink is what demands are to be placed upon the as cheap and many opinions arc placed library. in type the librarian must he gifted with First, its director should know the discriminating powers to be assured that problems of the industry and his com- the relative importance of much of this pany and his fact gathering efforts should in fortnation is accurately known. be for the purpose of enabling the exec- I an1 very glad that the Special Li- utive of his plant to know about the braries Association offers the oppor- problems peculiar to the industry and to tunity to bring together those engaged local conditions and to enable the exec- in this specialized work and I feel con- utive to make inferences and decisions fident that very good results will grow with +the most valuable and pertinent out of your meetings: facts available. In the evolution of industty and di- The man in charge should have a vision of work as outlined so long ago comprehensive Imowledge of the indus- by John Stuart Mill the time apparently try in which the firtn is engaged This has been reached when your specialized means a fair understanding of the illdus- services become an integral part of in- try's historical development, its present dustrial management. status, the methods of operation em- I wish you every success and ever in- ployed and its principal problems. creasing usefulness. z60 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5 The Relations of Research to Industry By Professor F. S. Dellenbaugh, Jr., Massachusetts Institute of Technology I-IAVE been asked to talk to you about saw the beginning of a new stage of the I tlie relations bf research to industry. world's progress-and the use orthe tele- This field is tl-emendous, as you will graph in the Civil War might be said realize if 1 inention only three branches, to have assisted in cementing together with which everyone is familiar, and in into one country what had been a group which research has let1 to very lnarlced of states Tlisough the modern develop- improvement-for instance, communica- ment of the telegraph, telephone, sub- tion, transportation, and tllumtnation. I11 marine cable, and radio, it is now possible this country, we come pretty generally to send messages to almost any inhabited into daily contact with the results of part of the earth's surface; and it is work clo~lein these branches of engineer- only so that it was possible to control ing. At the present time, there are in the wide-spread armies used in the last the Uriitcd States about seventeen nlillion war and is now possible to co-ordinate automobiles, fifteen million telephones, the tremendous business organizations of atid from fourteen to fifteen million the times. 13y means of the wireless, it lighting customers-showing that prob- now takes less than one-tenth of a second ably everyone who has a Ford also has to reach any part of the earth from any an e!ectric light. other part. To follow one branch, it is intereshg I11 similar fashion, it could be shown to parallel the clevelopment of means of how the advance of civilization has been cointnunication with the growth of civi- furthered by the i~nprovementof means lization At the first, people probably of transportation-whereby peoples and grouped themselves together by thelr goocls can be moved over the earth's sur- abdity to understand and communicate face-and by the improvement of means with each other-the famlly increasing of illumination-so that the useful part to the tribe or village, tribes separated of the day has been lengthened, living territorially coming together througl~the conditions have been inadc more com- agreements of their leaders and the dis- fortable, and safety has been incrcased. semination of their rulings, folk gather- It might be said that the greatest part ing into duchies, into states or coun- of the advance of material civilization tries, and, finally, as in the last war, has talcen place in thc last few hours of countries of the same understanding act- man's day on this earth; and it is within ing together-whlle before us there is, at this time that research has grown to its least, the possibility of the peoples of the present importance. The first practical earth banding themselves together along research worker was Galileo, who per- the general lines of color. Communica- formed experiments to detel-mine the- tion at the beginning mas by actual word truth of his thcories. Before him, re- of mouth-mcn went to other men and search was philosophical in nature, al- talked with them directly, and messages though some investigations had been car- were sent by tlie passage of men from ried on. The first research was neces- place to place. Other means were soon sarily crude in method and general in developed-signals were sent by drums conclusions, and the sum was limited. of various stages of development-by Research now means the correlation of smoke-and by primitive developn~ents the information of evesything that has of the semapl~ore. Napoleon probably been done upon the subject, then proving developed optical comnlunication to its these features by experimental evidence; highest point by his series of senlaphose and, by prediction or accident, arriving stations across France, whereby he was at more useful devices or closer insight able to move his troops rapidly as he into the nature and behavior of things. wished them massed. The invention and The intricacy of this makes it impossible development of electrical commullicatiotl for any one person to have a complete .. . . -- - ., . - .

October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES

knowledge of all the parts necessary for is necessary to correlate the results even his particular work. reached by the activities of many people. In complete contrast is the case of a It is here that thc special librarian can man like Leonardo cla Vinci. He is offer invaluable assistance to the research fanlous not only as a great artist but engineer. By the time information. of also as one of the greatest engineers of this sort gets into book form, it is either 'all times, if the facil~tiesat his coinlnand obsolete or has already become common are considercd. Among many notablc knowledge among advanced workers. achievements, he showed that, until some Therefore, nearly all the useful infor- force greater than that of horses coulcl mation appears in pcriodicals. While it be developed, it would be irnpossit)le to is possible for a worlcer 10 keep in touch make bigger machines. This was with with a few periodicals, the special libra- particular refesence to canal diggers in rian who is familiar with the problerns Holland. Thus, he predicted the neces- and needs and can keep track of refer- sity for steam or electric power; but did ences, particularly by supplying abstracts not Itnow in what form it would be satis- ancl an estimate of value, is of enormous fied. In him we see a Inan who was con- assistance. vei-sant with practically all the arts and Thus we might say that, just as thc sciences of his time, and the literature nations have expanded through the clealing with them. This fcat has now spread of coininunication, so the field of 1)c;coineimpossihle, unless brain capacities research has expandcd through tllc ill- can be cleveloped at a faster rate than crease of specialization ; and we must add the accuinulation of scientific facts. to the system of communica~tonanothrr At the stage of knowledge which we branch in the form of the library spe- have reached, n man can adequately fol- cialist who can lcecp the reseal-ch worli~r low only his spec~alty;but, siwe his own in touch with the developnlents of the iavolves featui-es of other specialties, to past ancl present and leave him free to accomplish anything in research work it concentrate upon the future. Every Day English By Dr. Francis Kingsley Ball, editorial staff, Ginn & Co., Boston N this period of our great physical late it without assistance? psogress wt: scem to think that our in- "It would be a splendid thing," said Iherited speech is too feeble for nlen of Bruno Lcssing, a short time ago, "if Eng- our might, ancl in our ignorance of its lish were properly taught in this country richness ancl beauty and power we create to a11 children. It would have a finc ef- slang, and heap words on one another, fect upon thc character of the growing thinking to increase theis efficiency, with generation. Very few teachers undcr- thc result that our languagc teems with stand English thorouglily. It is not only jargon ancl gi-oss exaggeration. In the that the slang and vei-nacul:~r of the clay eyes of the world we are a people of raw creep into their speech, but most of them and untutored strength, whosc opinion in have not devoted sufficient tinw to learn- literary matters in neither trained nos ing the complete structure of our lan- orgatiizecl. Until we become less satis- guage tlienlselvcs. Painstalcing study of fied with intellectual shoddy, and seek the niceties of a language develops the cultivation and task, we can hardly ex- sense of taste If there is one thing that pect to attain an exalted position in tl~c sticks out beyoizd all othcrs that our leadership of mankind school children do not acquire, it is good Dlcl we not feel chagi-ined when we taste. Our national taste in everything were told that the Uawes report was from food and drink to inannei-s and written in Americanese, and that the de- lnorals is pathetic. IVe arc not only lay in publ~shingit was owing to the in- wrong, but most of us do not ]inow that ability of the highly trained English ex- we are wrong." perts of thc French government to trans- "One of the chief dangers to our rich a62 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1915 and vivid language today," says Henry America is used only in the land of its van Dyke, "is the slovenly way in whicl~ origin, and it is not u~~commonto meet," it is spoken, not only in the streets, but etc. in the pulpil, on the stage, and even in Would Mr. Mencken have us believe, the classroom. Dialects and local accents, for example, that the American news- brogue ancl burr, are the spice of talks, paper reporter who wrote "Robbins but lazy, unintelligible, syncopated speech drive Rube to showers in second" did is like a dirty face." not know he was not using English, or Furtl~ei-more,a good many of us not that any person even in the United States, only use our language incorrectly, but if not familiar with baseball and with pride ou~selvcaon what we call our in- the teams in the major leagues, would dependence of speech. There are some, have known what the sentence meant? too, occupying chairs of English in col- But let us see what Mr. Bradley says leges, to whom the expression "purity with regard to the value of slang: "It of speech" is like a red flag in the face has been pointed out that slang wards, of a Spanish bull. These teachers not for the most part'; do not express notions only are careless about their own lan- which ordinary language cannot express guage, but tell their pupils to write what quite as efficiently. This fact implies a they please, and to pay no attention to noteworthy limitation of the capability purists and purists' junk. And yet these of slang as a source from which the cle- very teachers are probably fastidious ficiencies of a language can be supplied. about their eating and their drinking. As the prevailing tendency of words is Purity of speech is no less essential to toward degradation of meaning, one of the life of languagc than pure food ancl the most frequently recurring needs of pure water are to the life of tnan. Pur- language is that of words of dignified ity of speech ineans that words must and serious import to take the place of maintain their clear and distinct mean- those which have become cheapened ings and uses, and that these meanings through ignoble use. It is obvious that and uses must be immediately apparent slang can do nothing to meet this de- to the auditor or reader. No think~ng mand." person will call this purists' junk. The Norman Conquest and the influx Mr. H. L. Mencken, in the introduc- of trade and traders from France made tion to his ponderous volume called The it easier to borrow the foreign names of Awwrican Language, cites the Encyclo- things than to create new English names, paedia Britannica to substantiate what he by the compounding of words, as had says on the differences between the lan- been the custom Thus the borrowing guage of England and that of the of words from abroad became a habit. United States : "The Eleventh Edition of Several centuries later the revival of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, going learning flooded England with new words further, says that the two languages are of Latin and Greelc origin. Todav about already so far apart that 'it is not un- three-fourths of the words in English common to meet with (American) news- are of foreign origin, chiefly from Latin paper articles of which an untraveled and Greek. Thousands of words in com- Englishman would hardly be able to un- mon use look strange and difficult. To derstand a sentence'." (Vol. XXV, page master them, we may use the dictionary 209.) assiduously (which is a parrot-like . The writer of the article in the Britan- process unless we study derivation), or nica was none other than the late Henry we may study Latin and Greek for sev- Bradley, joint editor of the Oxford Dic- eral years, with special reference to de- tionary. Mr. Bradley's article is not on rivation, or we may study Latin and language at all, but on slang Not only Greelc roots and stems, using the dic- is the article headed Slang, but the para- tionary as an aid. Ry the last method graph and the very sentence of which we shall not learn Latin and Greelc, but Mr. Mencken quotes only a part are on many words which we think we know slang. Mr. Bradley begins the sentence will appear in a new light, many new thus: "Much of the current slang of words which we meet in reading we shall L - .

October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES

understand at first sight, and our enjoy- by being se~~sitiveto the point of view ment and reward will be great; language and feelings of those about us; and we will take on a new face, and in literature shoultl go through life with integrity, that new vistas will open before us. When, is, untouclzcd by corrupting influences. for example, we lcnow that the words There is no easy path to the mastery tangent, talzgible, intangiblc, tact, con- of English or of any other language. We tact, contiguous, intact,. integer, and in- must give to it the same attention that tegrily have the fundamental sense of we give to anything else wl~ichwe wish toziclz, their meanings will cease to be to accomplish. Is this not worth-while? hazy and uncertain, and stand forth clear We shall be needing English all our lives, and accurate. A tangent, for example, and we shall be known by the use wl~icll is a line toucl~inga circle (or curve) ; we make of it. intangible evidence is evidence that we "Language," said Ben Jonson, "most cannot put our hands on; we should go shows a man; speak, that I may see through life with tact, or toztch, that is, thee." Every Day English By Professor Roy Davis, College of Business Administration, Boston Univ.eersity HE true American language must Chase of the Boston Public Library and Tcome from the true sources of Mr. Lee of Stone and Wehstcr Corpoi-a- American life and ideals. The standards tion, has already shown ability to clcfine of this language must be set by men who standards of good usage. have faith in American life, who do not A word is in good use when it is (1) look upon baseball as a national vul- present, (2) national, and (3) reputable. garity, or consider the sporting page as (1) We a11 agree that a word lo he an unwholesoine blot on the newspaper, most suggestive must be neither obsoles- or who feel sure that son~ehowEritish cent nor obsolete. standards are superior to those of the (2) As to what is national we arc United States. not so generally in agreement, but a word The essential facts of American civi- is national in the United States when lization remain unexpressed in thc lan- it is understood in the forty-eight states. guage The essential qualities which give Its nationality has nothing to do with this civilization individuality are based, its use in Devon 01- Yorlcshire. London in part, upon material facts. American is no more a substitute for New Yorlc civilization is colored by the fact that the than is the Eddystone Lighthouse for United States is the wealthiest country the Statue of Liberty. in the world, that her mental and moral (3) A word,is reputable that truly life are affected by an ease of living expresses the thought of the people. Its never known before. reputability does not necessarily have The holiness of material things is a relation to its collegiate use. Language part of our life and needs a decent ex- cannot be shut up either 011 the college pression in our language. Coal and iron campus or In Wall Street. It travels are as much a gift of the gods as any- wherever man truly lives and thinks. thing else, and when they mightily affect The word boon^" in the sense of the civilization they should affect the meaning a rapid growth or increase in language. price well illustrates American expres- The aims and ideals of what is truly sion. The "boom" of the great Amcri- a New World are not to be confined can West is a sound and solid expres- within the language of the Old World sion of American faith in the reality and or to be restricted within the vocabulary dignity of ordinary everyday activity. of past generations. There is no substitute for the word for The Committee on Standards in there is no substitute for the belief which Everyday English, organized by Mr. it embodies.' SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5 Group Meetings Advertising-Commercial-Industrial Group

Chairman, Frederick A. Mooney, Librarian, Dennison Manufacturing Company, Framinsjharn, Mass.

Annual Report I925 as well as informatlo~lin the way of bibliog- raphies, ctc., so that what has been useful to The group has devoted a considerable por- one may become the possession of all. This tion of its attention this year to getting ac- intelchange of experiences scems to be at quainted. It was thought that it would bcst least one of the most valuable features of serve its members, and thus the cause of group activity. It is illustrated by thc scsslons special librarics in general, by first becom- of such a convenlion as this If the group ing familiar with what each membcr of thc car1 act for continuous interchange such as group is doing to serve the special interests this throughout the year, it can be itnlnensely for which he is working, and with the prob- helpful to its members, to the intcrests which lems which have arisen in connection wlth are served by its members, ancl to the special this service. With this information at hand, libraries causc in general. the group can address Itself to actual rather The group may be more active ancl servicc- than thcorctical conditions. In carry~ngout able during the next year by considcring: this idea, the chairtnan has written to each I. Collecting, classifying, and preserving member of the group, asking him to stale the material brought out at these meetings, briefly hts work and his problems. so that it may be available to all members, The material which has been gathered in whether present or not. thls way has shaped, the program for the 2. Means of comn~unication How, by pub- group sessions at the convention. A sesslon lication or otherwise, may this material be has been given to cach of the divisions of the made available to all members, or to the entire group, in which the speakers are to describe Association just what each one is doing to serve his con- 3. Increase of membership Systematic stituency. Thus one of the subjects is, "The effort to discover and record all special libra- Librarian's Part in the Advertising You ries with activities similar to those represented Read"; and another, "The Educational Work by the group, and to enlist them in this as- Which Can Be Planned in a Company Li- sociated work. brary." It will be seen from these suggestive 4 Publicity. Trying to enlist the interest titles that the program is planned to bring 01 concerns not having special libraries so out valuable information, based on the prac- that they will establish them. tical experience oi the different librarians. 5. Research. Planned study of new lines This cannot help being profitable, not only to of usefulness which may be developed by spc- those engaged in the particular Branch of cial libraries, so that they may jrlstify them- library work represented by the speaker, but selves even more clearly than they have done to all special librarians. It is planned to have in the past. a general discussioti follow each session, so FREDERICK A. MOONEY that the ideas of the speakers may be criti- cised and developed, and the experience of First Session, June 24, 1925 others be contributed to the subject. It is thought that it would be well to have General Topic: "How Advertising. Chain the group plans for the coming year depend Stores, Life Insurance Libraries Serve to a considerable extent on the outcome of Their Customers." the discussions at these convention sessions. In all probability lines of thought and work will be brought out which would be profit- Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc. able for the group to investigate further and By Mary Louise Alexander deve!op during the coming year. I have not written a real paper for this The thought has been in mind throughout meeting, but I want to give you, if I call, a the year that the group might act as a clear- bird's-eye vlew of an advertising agency, and ing house for valuable ideas and experiences, the place a library may occupy In such an October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES

orgarlization I do not know how much all gether wilh a complctc table shorving the radi- of you may know about advertising. We are ator capaclly for each tnakc of cal ; statistics SO surrounded by it these days that most of on cars by price groups; procluctio11 figures US, 1: think, take it for granted and lew real- lor each tnakc of car lor the first fi~e ize what a complicatccl process the produc- months of rg25 ; the use made of auiomobilcs, tion of advertising is. Because it is compll- that is, whether used in busmess, usccl by catcd, aclvcrtising agencies havc developd, doctors, and ~ariousoccupational uses ; to since it is more economical for them to llatlcllc what extcnt autoniobiles are used in the win- the preparation of inany campaigns than for ter (and for this we got consum~tionfigures each manufacturer to maintain expensive de- of gasoline by months as being the nearest partments to take care of his own publicity. indication of the use lmng maclc of auto- In our agency, we handle the advertising mobiles). For good measure, we Lhrew in for about fifty large corporations. Since none complete information on the weather that of them are dircct competitors, it means that might be expccted in various parts of the our informational needs are very broad. We country. ~nnsthavc data on all con~modities that have M'hen our report went out, it represe~llcd been or could be aclverlised. And, of course, thirty or forty pages and about two days' we lnusl keep in touch with markets, priccs, work. The man who had requested the In- and all salcs and advertising dcvclopmcnts. formation was amazed at the wlumc prc- Perhaps you will get a better ~~ictureof whal sentctl. we do il I explain the various steps in an AS ]>art of the research to be conducted, :advertising campaign. sales information is v~tal As you all prob- Research precccles any other work in an ably know, there is very little infornllt'lon on advertising campaign. Research includes the clistribution of commodities The govern- such items as the study of the product, its ment has long covered the procluctiotl proccss competition, and the market for ~t.By mar- very thoroughly In its census, but sales in- ket we mean places and people, their occupa- fo~malionhas been neglected. Mr. I-Ioovcr's tion and their buying power. The llbrary has department is now taking great intcrcst in .an excellent opportunity to furnish market in- this subject and the United States Cliamber -iormation. We keep all of the ccnsus pub- of Commerce has instituted d series of cl~stri- l~cations, 01 course, and vartous indcxcs of bution coniercnces, all of which will undoubt- 'buying power, such as Income tax reports, edly develop very interesting and valuablc .automobiles owned, wired homes, owned merchandising information. homcs, and the ownership of various so-called Lacking such facts, our library has made luxuries a praclice of saving all of thc vital informa- I have heard much d~scussionas to whether tion we have been able to lay our hands on a special library does referellce work or real We clip trade papers and general magazines research and I should personally havc a very as they comc into the office and afialyze the difficult time drawing a line between these two important articlcs very carefully. Fcw of the terms in the service which we render. When indexes to periodicals have proved adequatc information is not in ~rint,we go out into lor our use because while they might bring the highwavs and byways and find it. Also out the subject of advertising for mstance, when we are askcd spec~fic questions, we they would not show us which articlcs deal seldom stop with the answcr to one clues- with "fixing an advertising appropriation," tlon, but suggest allied subjects of intcrcst "the proper copy appczl lor housewives," or For i~lstance: "thc per ccnt. of annual sales to devote to ad- h couple 01 days before I left for this con- vertising," etc., etc. While they may index vention, one of the men in our oilice dropped salcs subjects, they do not bring out such into the Research Department and asked for specific points as "sellmg on cor~signment," "all the informatiot~he would need in plan- "selling through exclusive agencies," "fixing ning a campaign for an anti-freeze fluid for salesmen's quotas," and the multitude . of automobile radiators." He did not know points that are of great importance to us. definitely what he wanted, but before we were Often in additipn to stalistical and sales through with that job, we had sent him .-the research, it is necessary to go out into the total number of automobiles by states; the field and interview dealers and consumers. bota1 number of cars by makes of cars, to- Such market surveys are made constantly by a66 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

advertising agencies, and the library plays an location in the magazine, etc., and all being important part in such invcstigations. well, the bill is paid. After the research has been finished and All of the departments just mentioned call the plan decided upon, the advertismg agency upon the llbrary. To take care of their rc- is ready to choose the magazines and news- quests, we have about one thousand books papers in which the advertising will appear. This is not an extensive library by any tueans, For the Media or Space Department, such in- but we make great use of the, New York formation as ratcs, circulation, vol~ulnieof ad- Public Library, which is a near neighbor and ver lrslng carried by publications, and amount we co-opcratc w~thother spccial libraries in of advertising done by spec~ficmanufacturers, thc city. We have the usual ryference tools, is a necessity. The library is constantly on such as encyclopedias, mariy dictionaries, the alert to supply information to help this books of quotations, trade directories, etc., and department choose publications wisely we have a few books on each subject in which When the plan has been n~aclcand the pub- we are particularly interested, such as foods, lications chosen, the advertising agency IS clothing, automobiles, and electricity. Thc ready to prepare copy. The copy-writer taxes problem in as small a library as ours is to the library to the utmost. He calls upon his- havc very few but very valuable books on each tory, literature, biography, and the sciences. subject and then to be in close contact with Our rcquests vary from such an item as the special and original sources of additional in- cosn~etics Cleopatra may have used, to the formation latest theory of vitamines or radiator heating. More important than the books in our 11- We trace the history of transportation brary arc the magazines, which we receivc throughout the ages aqd we find out what regularly We have some six thousand maga- part reading and good books havc played in zines on file at all times, representing about the life of greal men. It is really great sport five hundred different titles which are rc- to keep up with Lhe advertising copy-writer. ceived regularly. An advertising agency is particularly fortunate in receiving free copies Having prepared the copy, the agency will of all of the pel-iodicals in which their clients' then plan the art work. We maintain a studio advertising appears. We use these publica- of some twelve artists, who are constantly tions to the fullest extent, clipping them as I coming to the library for pictorial material. mentioned before and keeping a few for We have books on design and lettering ior future reference. them; history of costume and furniture; and In addition to books and magazines, a very extensive clipping file containing pic- we make it a point to join various associations tures on animals, flowers, water craft, and all and subscribe to se'rvices. believe we belong of the hundreds of subjects which might be I to about twenty-five organizations such as thc featured in an advertisement. These adver- tising artists are temperamental souls, and are United States Chamber of Commerce, Mer- chants Association, Management As5ociation, always in a tremendous rush. We consider it a real achievement to have established a Advertising Clubs, etc., and through these memberships wc havc access to a great deal reputation for never failing them. Often they ask not only for a picture of a tram, bu~a of valuable material. pullman porter getting off a coach backward, The clipp~ngfile in our office is the most and they are not satisfied with a plain polar valuable possession of our library. It occupies bear, but he must be perched jauntily on an about sixty filing cabinet drawers and the data iceberg. Such requests test bur resourceful- file covers some three thousand different suh- ness considerably, but we usually manage to jects. These subjects include all sorts of supply their needs. commodities and very detailed sales and ad- vertising information. The copy and art having been prepared, thc I have five girls in our Research Depart- advertisement goes to the Mechanical Depart- ment We have no budget; a minimum of ment and cuts and plates are made. The ad- red tape all along the line; and few rules and vertisement is assembled into one complete regulations. I try to make out department as unit and is forwarded to the pubhcations in flexible as ~t can possibly be, our one aim which it is to appear. When the publication being to render real service to the one hun- appears on the news-stands, our client's ad- dred and fifty people in our New York of- vertisement is checked for proper printing, fice and Buffalo and Boston branches. October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 267 In addition to our own ofice, we scrve a11 trlclty, the quantlty of silk hosiery produced of the clients whose advertising we handle monthly, the volume of export of a product; I am constantly scnding clippings and boolts to golernn~cnt and other studies on the cost to these people and am always particularly of l~\,ing,to clip literature on the history pleased wheri thy wirc me or telephone long buttons, census rcporls on manufactures, on distance for information (which by thc way occupations, on elcry conceivable fact that will is 111obably avai!able in thcir own citics, but evaluate our United States, their wealth, sepa- they Iiavc lcarnetl Lo rely on us for help ) rately, and as a whole, thc intelligence ant1 In closing, I should suggcst to you libra- productiveness of its people. rians that advertising agencies are a very fer- tile ficlrl for libraries. There are some five Roughly, the following arc the primary questions consiclercd in a general ~n~estigation hundred agcncies in the country, yet only thrce of a client's product shown on a poster In or four of them have organ~zedlibraries I should suggcst that some of you scll thc itlca our Riarketing Department of which the li- brary is a part: of special llbrary service and your own in- dividual abdity to some of thesc agencies. \\'ho buys it? U'hy docs he buy it? \Yho should buy it? \Vhy sho~~lclhc buy it? George Batten Company, Inc. \\'here docs he live? \\hen does lie buy ~t? Discussion of the organization, functions Ilow does he buy it? (or, How is it sold?) and scrvice of a business library is not unique, \\'ho hclps or Iunders the buying? but the questions arising in the work of an advertising agency are unique by reason of Sonle of the other considerations are : their variety. I-Iom do we know he can pay tor it? Gcorgc Batten Company is an aclvert~sing Buymg habits, kind of store, size of city, agency having about seventy-five clients acl- style factors, service factors, seasonal vcrtising more than that number of diffcrcnt factors, dealer density. kinds of products. To suggcst to you thc extent of the rcsources of its small library In the working out of these problems the li- The it may be pardonable if a statement lnadc by brary is callcd upon to supply material Mr. Dorsey W. Hyde, Jr. of the Chambcr application of the answers to these and other of Commerce of the United States of America questions helps determine sales policies and bcforc thc Direct Mail Advcrt~smgAssoc~a- sales actlvitics, and enablcs us to decidc on tlon is repeated. He said: "In the case of a the kinds of publications in which to place the company manulacturing a restricted line of clicnt's advertising. An eminent authority on products the field to be covered is compara- advert~smg has sad. "No man that views tively lim~tetl,while thc rescarch Ilbrary of advertising as merely a commerc~al activity can possibly think clearly on thc subject. A an advertising agency may (quoting Georgc Baltcn Company's librarian) include 'infor- broader definition must be made; for adver- mat~onin any form from soup to soap, from tislng IS applying visibly the powers of sug- buttcr to nuts, from labor Lo engineering, gestion and persuasion to the end of making from beauty cream to motor trucks."' Mr. the publ~cthink as the advertiser lrrishes it Hyde says he has used many times this de- to think. . . . That heightening of the standard scription of the varicty of matcrial requ~retl of hing which every writer on sociology or in such a library and it has had one hundred on economics names an outstanding feature thousand periodical circulation. of the past quarter-century has been brought It may be well to elaborate so inclusive a about as much by the indirect influence in phrase as "inforn~ationin any form" It may advert~singas by any other influence." meall our investigation of a client's product, his method of distribution, his sales volume NOTE.-MISS Elias the11 showed a number of and potential market, his sales policy and or- proofs and established by comments the fact ganization, lt may refer to general stat~stics that advert~sementscontain accurate informa- as, of the number of homes wired for elec- tion backed up by facts. SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

iormation. To bc most successful, the libra- rlan must be able to suit the presentation of W. T. Grant Company Library ideas to the psychology of her patron, whether hc be ofice boy or member 01 the execulive Xdul~eclucat~on at presenl is very promi- committee. The success of this kind of li- nent in the field of library work. I am fol- bray work is largely the reactlon GI the 11- lowir~gwith greaL interest all the develop- braria11 herself LO the highest ideals of busi- ments which arc being made by the American ness. Librat y Association, various trade associations, About four ycars ago, the W. T. &ant fraternal soc~etics, colleges, and special~zed Company started a special library for the use correspondence schools The variety of or- of all of thc men in the organization. Thc ganizations interested in exLending educntional purposc was to make available the finest ma- work shows vcry plainly that there is a great terial on retailing, marketing, advertising, necd for continuing education. All really pro- salesmanship, principles of busmess and eco- gressive people are studcnts on one subject or nomics, and by thrj use of this material to anolher. They may be seeking inore infor- build more efficient, broaclb business men. mation about literalure, studying some hobby, From the first, the idea of t1m library has trying to fill their jobs to greater advantage, heen adult education, although it was not called or looking ahead and preparing for some rlew by that name. job. In any case, they are all sccking further In order that you may realize some of the information. special problems of our library, it is neces- Adult education is the term chosen to de- sary to tell you something about the W. T. scribe this wdc-spread desire for increased Grant Company. Our company operates knowledge, As our library uses the term, seventy-three department stores throughout adult education is glving either facts or the country, with the executwe headquarters growth material (a more exact term than in- in New York City. We have a6out five hun- spirational material) secured from many dred men employees, two thousand sales- sourccs to the seeker In such a way that he women, and two hundred office workers. Thc is inspired to increase his usefultless in some library was planned lor the usc of the entire definite way. organization. It is entirely up to the indi- Commercial firms are confronted wlth this vidual whether he uses this library service same desire for informalion on the part of or not. You can see that the problen~sof their employees. They want to know more our library are unique, when you consider about the particular business with which they that we have a large, scattered organization, are connected and thc "why" of business, which includes many spccialists and many which leads back to the general theory of eco- grades of employees. When the library nomics. To meet this ever increasing need, patron is at a distance from the llbrary, we firms have established special libraries, educa- carry on our work with the individual through tional departments, and service departments. correspondence. A special library, organized under the above My personal idea of library work in such conditions, has very great responsibilties. It an organization as ours is that the librarian must be able to supply to the cntire organi- should make herself responsible for anything zation fact material in the special field in appearing in print that has a bearing upon which the firm is interested, general business the interests of her firm. Nexl she should principles, and also growth material. The li- make these facts available to the members brarian becomes the special scout for the par- of the organization who are most keenly in- licular company for all new ideas whlch will terested In this material. Naturally, I use the be of interest and benefit to her firm. She same matcrial that all librarians use-books, must keep in touch with the newest clevelop- newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, speeches, ments and ideas in this speciaI field. How- advertisements, book reviews, book lists, re- ever, to know the facts or where the facts prints, and posters. However, my method of are available is only half of her job. Not using this material is very different. The only must she know these, but she must also books are sent out to the patron by mail. be able to present them to the seeker in such A11 discussion about the book is done through a way that he can make use of the material. correspondence. The outstand~ng magazine She must use psychology in giving out all in- articles in the trade journals that we take 2re October, Igng SPECIAL LIBRARIES

broadcasted cach n~onthin the Daily Ba~lletm men within the organization to make him which goes to each stole. We compile, at wish to go on and make a thorough study intervals, . various lists of books for specgl on a subject new to our organization. purposes. We are constantly broadcasting to For some time we have been particularly each individual interesting items about new interested to work out a course on market- books. We also try to keep the entire or- ing for the men In our organization. We ganization in touch with the outstanding have planned such a coursc which we will magazine articles, or even pal ts of articles, makc ava~lableto all our men this fall. It by scnding out reprints of them In every comprises four terms of graded readmg, cach way, we try to keep before our patrons through of which includes six books. All phases of clever advertising, all interesting new thmgs marketing and retailing are included in the as they appear in. print. subjects covered The matern1 In each book We purchase books for the cntire organi- has been carefully analyzed and a set of zation, enter subscriptions for all of our pa- questions made out, based upon each text. trons, place magazines in the rest rooms for In thcse questions, we have tried to bring the sales girls in the individual stores; we IS- the information in the book directly to bear sue a spccial Christmas bulletm containing upon the problems of the W T. Grant Com- suggestions for Christmas book gifts, place pany We send out the book from the library merchandise manuals in the various depart- and in two weeks the sct of questions. The ments in our stores. We are also planning answers are returned to the library, graded book collections for the saleswomen which by the Personnel Director and also the li- arc to be routed from store to store. Our brarian. This grade is sent to the individual library has become the logical place to ask reader. the question, "what," "why," and "how." It probably will take a man from a year The library is In a very unique position to and a half to two years to complete the four help the new mcmbers of our organization. I terms of this course. At the end of each term can probably better explain this if I tell you he will be given a definite grade for that of a recent instance. In response to a library term's work, which will be a part of his per- poster, a new member of our organization sonnel record. It is entirely optional with the came into the library and told us the prob- reader whether he takes this course or not. lem wliich she was confronting. She rca- In working out the problen~s,we have tried lized that in her department there was an to bring in questions on every part of the opportunity to develop a very specialized kind work ol the individual man in a W. T. Grant of hosiery research work. I suggested to her Company store. We find that many of the a short list of books which would build up questions we have used have aroused much a background on textiles, hosiery, underwear, discussion in the stores. general principles of retailing, principles of Why is a firm interested in such a library? merchandising, elen~entary statistical work, The library has become a broadcasting sta- and research work. I worked out a very tion for ideas. The entire personnel of the short list of books which took up these vari- organization react to these ideas, some to ous subjects. After she had finished each one idea, some Lo another. An intellectual book, we discussed the book together. This stimulus is created which keeps the entire girl has a great respect for what the library organization mentally alert. In this day of can do to help her. She has learned where the keenest competition, a firm, all of whose to ask the "how" We have many individuals members are n~entallywide awake, is in ~dcal who are reading courses which have been condition for growth and expansion. planned in very much the same way as the one described above. IV. Sometimes a very new phase of retailing Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company will come to ouk attention. Perhaps it is a By Mrs. Grace Cltrld Bevan subject on which we have been able to find very little authoritative printed material. In' The library of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company was organized in 1920 It that case, we correspond with outside indi- viduals and get enough information to start contains about four thousand volumes, also an investigation. Just recently, I have becn magazines, pamphlets, clippings, charts, maps able to suggest enough ideas to one of the and pictures. 2 70 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

It covers insurance, finance, business, adver- zines They are arranged chronologically in tising, salesmanship, English, personal devel- each group. opcnt, hography, history, poetry, and fic- This book contains practically a history of tion. the company for the period which it covcrs, Two Ilersons give their entire time to the We have found it very useful. library and one part time. We have a long, light, pleasallt room. One Reading Cowses : cnd is iurnishetl with a davenport, round table Each fall a reading list is made out for and comfortatk chairs It is uscd largely by the people in the home ofice. our employces in their free time at noon. Last fall the subject was "Self-Develop- ment: How can I makc the most of myself, Purpose : How can I make the best worker possible." Its purpose is to furnish the information Each person who wishes to read some 01 the needed in the conduct of the business of the books on this subject receives a notebook, company, to givc guidance and st~mul~~sin "Books I Have Read," in which he entcrs the reading aid study and to liclp all our pcople authors and titles of the books he reads with in the home office am! our rel~rescn~a~iics in brici comments on them, also the number the field to becoinc bctter ~vorkersand bctter of pages read These books are called in in men and womcn. thc spring. Every' one who reads at least one thousand pages has his namc published in Permdicals : the Qiizll Two prizes wcre offered this year It has about one hundred and ten periodicals to those handing in the best nolebooks The of which about thirty-five are on insurance. money is furnished by the Educational Com- The important oncs are sent to the officers, mittee of the Phocnix Mutual Club, an or- executives and heads of divisions ganization of home office employees. The For each magazine a regular routing list first prize was $8 worlh of books, the second is followcd in circulating it. It is returned $4 worth. to the library aftcr each pcrson has seen it. To recognize continued effort we have is- We find that in th~sway we can kecp track sued certificates this year to those who have of it most closcly. It may be kept three days done the required reading for two or more and a second reading may be requested if de- years. Our president is interested in the ieacl- sired. ing of the employces and has been willing to Articles of gencral interest, also those of sign these certificates. Thirty-one persons ie- interest to individuals, are marked and later ceived them. Space is left on them to enter clipped. the record of future years. We arc planning recognition for those who Reference Work : follow the course for five years. As in most special libraries many reference Many read some books on the hst who do questions are looked up in conncction with not hand in the notebooks or read one the business of the company Also we look thousand pages up many gencral questions for individuals. The prizes were given out by our presi- dent at a gathering of all home officc em- Research Division : ployees held for another purpose. The names We work in close touch with the Research of winners of certificates issued for two Division furnishing them with material on years' reading were read at this meeting, This busmess conditions, markets and industries, has given a recognition of work done wh~ch etc. we think is desirable.

Book of Clippiugs : General Collection : We save all articles in newspapers and Our collect~onof fiction, poetry, travel, etc. magazines about our company or by our men is used largely. We do not have late fiction and all the company advertising We have a but aim to have such as are included in the book of these clippings in which they are list of High School Libraries; of the Wilson vouped in this way. (I) material from news- Standard Catalog, etc. papers, (2) from insurance magazines, (3) Our officers and others give us many from class magazines, (4) from general maga- volun~es. October, iga5 SPECIAL L IBRARIES 271

We circulate a few mafgazines like the terial which will give him information about American, Success, Good HouseKeepittg and this city. Womds Cornpanion. Trai&g Classes : The company believes thoroughly in having The Quill: its salesmen well trained. Every man who We have articles about books and the li- joins the company as an agent must take a brary in cach issuc of our house magazine, course of training. At intervals through the the Quill. year training classes are held for three weeks Buying Books : at the home office. Members of this class are We buy books for both our home office em- shown through the library and later the li- ployces and our salesmen and let them have brarian gives them a talk on the help which them at cost. We l~keto make it easy for they can get for their work and personal them to get good hooks They appreciate lives from printed matter and the I~brary. what it saves them to be able to order through Many of our borrowers among the sales- 11s. men are thc men who have bee11 in the train- We feel sure many good books have been ing classcs and have come Lo know ihc library bought by our employees which otherwise when they were in the home ofice. would not have been purchased Reading Courses-Salesmen : Vacation dlaterial : This year a plan has been tried with the In the spring and summer we gather ma- salesman similar to that for the home office terial from railroad and steamboat com- employees. The plan was announced in our panies, inns, hotels, camps, etc., which will field magazine, the Fzelil. The books Lo be help our employees in deciding where to go read were anything which would I~elpthem on their vacations. This material is used to be better salesmen. Letters were sent to constantly through the summer. the managers asking them to urge the men to do this reading. The nianagcrs wcre to scnd Salesnten : in the names of men who had undertaken to Books are lent freely to salesmen. We pay read in this line The booklet, "Books I Have the postage when sending them and they Read," like those used at thc home office were when they are returned They send in re- sent to them. They could borrow books from quests for material on special subjects as us or get them atiywhcre. Five dollars worth business hsurance, meeting objections, etc. of books was the prize offered to Lhc one They outline the cases of different prospects sending in the best boolclet, A good number whom they wish to interest in insurance and of bookleis were returned to us showing an we send books and clippings which may filr- excellent choicc of books and givhg dis- nish them ideas in presenting their service. criminating comments. Our president acted Our file of clippings, pamphlets and charls is as one 01 the judges. The prize winner mas of great help in meetmg these requesls. announced in the Field Wc feel Lhat this We have published a list of books in our plan has stimulated reading among ihc sales- library of value to salesmen. men. We have received suggesl~ous from In most issues of our magazine, the managers which we can use another fall, P1toeni.t- Mutual Field, we have had articles which will hell) us to arrange the reading about the library or about books or lists of plan more satisfactorily. questions on which we have furnished infor- mation. These articles bring many requcsts Second Session, June 25, 1925 for material. Gene~alTopic: "How the Special Library Information About Sales Territories : Serves Industrial Concerns." We have sent to several hundred chambers I. of commerce and boards of trade for infor- Standard Oil Company of New Jersey1 mation about their cities and localities. We use this in various ways. When we are send- &I D.SF Brown ing a manager to a city about which he knows Research has today rcached an advanced little we furnish him with some of this ma- stage of development. Its value is recognized -- 1 Mr Brown had selected for his title "Fullctions of a Techtucal Library," but for the sake of uniformity we have chosen the above title.-EDITOR. 272 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, I915

by business men and is generally regarded by brary and so can obtain the information much them as essential not only for further Progress more quickly than could be accomplished in each individual field of manufacture but through any other agency, within the organ- necessary for maintaining any hanufacturing ization at least. establishment fit to meet the competition of The Development Department of the Stand- others who believe in and are promoting re- ard Oil Co. (N.J.) was organized in 1919 ant1 search in rival concerns. at that time the library, already started by Hence, many manufacturing concerns to- Dr. Robinson, then chief chemists of the ,Bay- day maintain research organizations more or way Refinery, was assigned to the new de- less highly orgapized. Development in this partment and its functions and usefulness direction is indicated by the salary rolls of broadened by assigning to it a man whose some dozen or so large corporations quoted entire time was given to the gathering of by B. T. Brooks in a recent issue of Oil and useful information and presenting it in con- Gas Joztrnal. Of the organizations mentioned, densed form to the various executives of the the research staff consisted of from thirty- company who, as a rule, are too busy to read four to five hundred and twenty-two men and the great mass of current literature pertain- the salary roll amounted to from $112,000to ing to our industry. At the same time the $4,000,m. service of the library to the research men The research man must have tools with was increased by the addition of more tech- which to work; hcnce, the well equipped nical books and journals and by the help which laboratories with which we find most of these the librarian could give in the individual organizations supplied. But of equal, if not cases. greater, importance to the research man, is This library is, essentially, a petroleum li- a well equipped library where he can find what brary built for the needs of our research staff has been done in this line of work by others and the patent department of the company. and so save costly duplication of work or It occupies one large well lighted room hav- glean new inspilation or ideas from the de- ing about one thousand square feet of floor scrlptions by others of their endeavors or ac- space and contains about one hundred and complishments in his particular field of in- fifty,sections (approximately four hundred and vesligation. twenty-five running feet) of sectiorlal book We find, therefore, with nearly every re- cases. I might here remark that sectional search organization a library as an essential book cases have many desirable features, but part of the working equipment of that or- they are a serious handicap where space is an ganization. important consideration. We have in this li- The slogan of a library should be "servicc," brary approximately six hundred of the best and thc Ilbrarian, especially in thc ~echnrcal books on petroleum and rklated technical sub- library, has a wonderful opporluniiy to give jects. We have taken practically every oil service. In fact, if business men had not trade journal since 1920 as well as the more realized the need for a specialized service important chemical, physical and automotive such as we can give the industrial library in journals. Of these journals wc bind about its present day stage of dcveloptnent would seventy volumes each year. We have a few not eslst. It is the frequently occurring nccd complelc sets of thc mosl imporlanl journals for complete information quickly availablc such as Berichte, Journal of the Ameriuair that has impressed the hard headed business Clzemical Society, etc. In a library of this mcn in charge of large concerns, such as the sort patent litcraiure is of great in~porlance company I represent, with the desirability of and we have scveral thousand patent? on file having within their own organizations a library for reference. W~ihthe exception of jour- well equipped to provide any infornlation that nal literature prior to 1920 we feel that we may be dcslrcd on short nolice. It must not have a fairly complete library on the petroleum bc inferred from this that all the inlormation industry, at least with respect to the manu- lial~leto be requested is kept on file in any facturing end. It might be pointed out in small special library such as ours. It is true, this conneclion that thc title "librarian" as however, that if this information is not in olten understood hardly fits in with the work our files we usually have a clew as to where which we do. The library is open durmg it may be located quickly in some other li- working hours and the incn of our own and October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES a73 other departments are iree to come and use 2. Assi~tit~gthe yesearch me?, in their use of it as they have leisure and desire without re- the library facilities striction. They are requested to and usually The library is located in the same bnilding do leave a record of books taken out so that with the Reseaich Department and so is read- we can locate them if necessary before they ily available to the worker. The men are free are ready to return them and we do main- to come, and they do come frequently to use tain a card file 01 books, pamphlets, etc, which it as they need. It is here that the libranan arc on our shelvcs. Work of this kind, how- has one of his or her greatest ollportunties ever, takes but little of our time. But in to be of service, for there is a surprising the broader conception of the definition we lack of understanding among technically feel that we do meet the qualifications of trained men of how to efficiently use library this title for our time is spent in collecting facilities when placed at their disposal. Uni- useful information and in getting this infor- versities and colleges are beginning to recog- mation as quiclily and as completely as pos- nize this fact and manv of them are now sible to others in the company who may be offering practical courses to their technical able to make practical use of it. students along this line in order that the Thus the various types of service rendered graduates play know how to use this very in our library might be listed about as important tool of all technical mcn, the li- follows : brary. We are also able to save thc man's time by showing him where or how to look I. Abstracting the current lilerahwe for the particular thing he wants or even by No executive has time to read or even finding his reference and laying ~t before him. scan thc one hundred trade and patent jour- This service, I believe, is a true funct~onof nals in our llbrary, but he can glance over any library and particularly a special library the short abstracts which we prepare from such as ours. It is a service that'is appre- these journals and note the few articles in clated and results in greater'use of the library which he is interested. If he has no lime and so indirectly at least makes for a better even for this he is furnished with still .briefer and more efficient personnel in the organiza- tion. information which we call our "Journal List." This is merely a list, issucd twicc each week, 3. Making lilerature searches of the important articles noted in the cur- This is one of the most important and in- rent journals and pamphlets during the week. teresting typcs of work which we do. To A sentence is usually given to indicate the date these searches have been limited to only general scope of the article It has become such topics as have been specifically requested. a regular custom with some of our men to They usually cover every available souice of return this list with the articles checked about information to whlch we have access either which thcy wish further information. We then in our own or in larger New York libraries. forward eithcr an abstract or the whole It is our plan to extend this work as soon article as desired. Olientimes after reading as time permits to the major topics of Interest the abstract it develops that an article is of to the company so that we may havc on hand such great interest that they wish to read it summaries of the art in as many phases oE in its entirety. Usually, however, the abstract the pctroleuln industry as possible togcther proves suficlent and the journal is left on with sindar work done in the same field by our shelves for consultation by oihers more our own organization. This latter can easily than would be the case if wc did not have be accomplished in our case by a search of the abstracts to forward first. Thus much of the central files which are kept in the library. our time is taken up in the preparation of 4. Searching trade mark lournals abstracts of thc current literature. These This scrvice, which we havc found to be a abstracts arc then filed on 4" x 6" cards, in- proper function of the library, consists in dexed subjectively by a decimal system inod- searching the current trade mark journals eled along the lines of thc Dewey decimal for notice of marks issued which might in- system We have a card file now of prob- fringe our own. We, therefore, subscribe to ably twenty-five thousand cards which is the pincipal trade mark publications and go fairly complete for the period since 1920. through these regularly as they are received 274 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, rgq reporting our findings to the proper execu- tives so that the necessary protests may be registered at the respective patent offices from Eastman Kodak Company which the marks are issued. By Ethel A. Shields 5. Dispensing gemwd infownatioiz By. this is meant not merely placing the The Eastman Kodak Company's Business facilities of our l~brary at thc dlsposal of Library was started in a small way some- time before I was engaged as librarian. Mr. those who wish to come and use them, but the use of these facilities ourselves to answer Folsom, who was then the head of the Sta- quest~ons,large or small, which will help any t~sticalDepartment, had gathered a lew books maq in any department of the company. Our and a rather good collection of slatistical work in this direction is constantly iucreas- magazines and was sending thcm out from ing as the men, not only in the Dcvelopment h~soffice. Naturally, one as busy as he was Department, but in other departments as wcll could not afford the timc for such circulation find that thcy can usually obtain the answer work and for the classifying and filing of ma- to their technical questions or get some help, terial which came into his department. at least, from the Developmcnt Dcpartrnent In Allgust, 'I~ZO, therefore, I began my Library. One phase of this work which work, at first in a small part of Mr. Folsom's mlght be mentioned in passing is the supply- office, later in a room which I shared with ing of articles for the different house organs one other person, then in a library all my own, of the company. We are always on the and now in a larger one. During the time I watch .for items which will be worth reprint- haye been here the library has been moved ing In The Lamp, The Salemotor or our other five times and the assistant has been changed company publications. almost as many. The circulation, whkh in An analysis of the work done in our library January, 1920 averaged eleven a day, has now for the last five months may perhaps give a grown to an average of two hundred and fif- better idea of the types of service rendered teen a day. the company. In describing the service of my library, I From a total of one hundred and sixty-two have divided it into three parts: first, the journals on our subscription list, approxi- service to executives; second, the service to mately twenty-five hundred separate issues the employees; and third, the scrvice to out- were examined besides one hundred and hfty- siders. These various services I shall treat nine pamphlets and five hundred and thirty in separate divisions as they have bcen men- patents. From these fifteen hundred and tioned. forty-three abstracts were prepared. These The main function of the library in serving abstracts are filed subject~vclyin the card file executives is to save the time of busy and containing as stated before, approxin~ately high-pr~ced employees. To this end the li- twenty-five thousand cards. In addition to brarian submits bibliographies upon subjects this, our regular work, fifty-three searchcs as the executive calls for them. She has in and twenty translations were prepared and the past done some translating. Thc most dif- three hundred calls for ~nformation an- ficult, and perhaps the most important part swered. No attempt has been made to keep of the service, is reading magazines to catch more than an approxmate record of the above the articles of special interest to executives. data and the figures here given are too low, The librarian ieels that this duty is the hard- if anything. We have had but two persons est in all of her work. First, because ~t is available for this work and so, naturally, we very hard to select material which will be a have not had much time for other activities benefit to thc executive, as a grcat deal that in which the library might otherwise have is published in magazines is theoretical or is been able to render still further service to written by someone whosc judgment the exec- the. various departments of the company. utive does not trust. If one sends a large There doubtless are other services which a amount of poor material to anyone the nat- I~brary,which our library, could well perform ural implication is that the sender has no to increase its usefulness and value to the judgment. On the othcr hand, if no material company it serves, and by telling each other except the best is forwarded, the executive of our work and our problems we can, I be- believes that he is Ileing neglectcd, which also lieve, be of great assistance to each other. is quite natural. Somewhere between these October, 1995 SPECIAL LIBRARIES two extremes, thcre must be a path which oul: in some companies oi which you doubt- can be safely taken. It is our duty to find less have heard. The Eastman Kodalc Com- that path. The other reason why it is hard pany has not established such a service. ,4n- to cull material for executives is that their othcr means of reaching the employees with interests are very broad and one cannot be the books and magazines, and of making them quite sure where the interest begins and leaves feel that the library looks out for their wel- off. fare, is by reading lists upon various subjects The second phase of useEu111ess of the li- which appear each month in the employees' brary is its service to employees. Thls service magazine. These lists are short, but only the aids in keeping the friendly relations between best books on each subject are given. We the employer and the employees. We do this have found that these lists are quite effective by helping w~thstudy courses. Many of our The third phase of our service is that to men are taking up work at night school and outsiders. This helps to keep the company we assist in getting material when they are in the public eye. Many questions have been unablc to find what they need. asked by the librarians ill other companies in The feeling in many companies with re- Rochester. Most of them are very simple to gad to special correspondence courses is that answer or need only a llttle direction. This such courses very often are a waste of time adds to the good-will felt for the company. and money for employees. Howcver, if a A larger service is performed to librarians of man has taken one up and desires supple- small libraries, who write in for various pub- meillary reading, the library tries to supply lications and for mformation about good this. photographic material. This servlce grew out of a feeling that our publications were not There is an amusing story of a company reaching a sufficiently large number of people which allowed a representative from a cor- who would carefully preserve them for ref- respondcnce school to address their men. The erence. By speaking at confcrcnces on the representative spoke so movingly on a certain subject of our educational books and by no- course which he was offering that some tations in the A L.A. Book List vcry many twenty men signed up and took the course. requests have been received and are still com- Let us now suppose that it was a course which ing in to us. The value of this service is would fit you for a sales manager. Strangely hard to estimate, but from the reports re- enough the twenty men finished the course ceived from librarians, we believe that it is with honors and one day the Personnel De- very valuable. partment looked up to see the twcnty men waiting, each man demanding that he be made The library, therefore, stands as a distribut- a sales manngcr. Smce the company already ing agent of information for executives, em- had a most competent chief of their Sales De- ployees, and outsiders, and should also stand partment, naturally there were twcnty very as a source of inspiration and friendliness to much disappointed men. all with whom it comes in contact. No clues- tion should be lightly turned away, as one Corrcspondencc courses are vcry valuable never knows how seriously it may affect thc to a few people, but a large number of sub- feeling of the asker with regard to the com- scribers never get their money's worth; be- pany. Cordial relations should be maintained cause thcy never finish the problems, which with everyone cven at the cost of time and are the most important part. Somehow the trouble. This is a ccnter from which much world of flesh and devil seems to be con- good can be done on behalf of the organiza- spring against most of those who ambitiously tion. try to educate themselves in this manner. Perhaps a safer way, or one which is equally good and less expensive, is the scrvice which The Yale and Towne Manufacturing Co. the llbrary can give in outlinmg courses of By Miss E~ulireF. Peck study for those interested. Naturally, it is hard to insist that any reader take out the When I received Mr. Mooney's letter asking books and read them, unless one has a sys- me to tell of the service rendered by the tcm of reports which must bc looked over or, works library of the Yale & Towne Mfg. offcrs a prize at the end of a successful read- Co., I had only been with that organization ing coursc This method has been lollowed about a month and was hardly acclimated. 276 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, Igag

Therefore, I suggested telling you of the suc- And that is the great advantage I have cess I had had while with other concerns found oi the selective inethod of circulation. using the selective rather than the routine When a man's attention is called to an article, melhod of circulating periodicals. This is he is very apt to look at it immediately, where nothing new I realize, but is simply an account as if he must look the periodical over for of the system as it operated successlully. himself it is a task that usually is postponed. But first there are some facts concerning Thc method I used while with two other the works library that you might be inter- concerns, was quite simple to install and ested to hear about. Mr. Henry R. Towne, operate. one of the founders of the Yale & Towne Thru a circular letter sent to officials, heads Mfg. Co, was a prolific reader, and realizing of office departments, foremen and others who the value of reading started more than ten should be kept in touch with current material, years ago a works library. He was always there was built up a "special interest file" of interested in its progress and aided in its de- subjects in which these members of the or- velopment with many gifts of books during his life time. When he died last October, he ganization would be interested. Th~swas also bequeathed to the works library, practically a help in routing clippings and pamphlets. his entire private library. This is no incon- The periodicals as received were reviewed siderable gift as it numbers approximately and articles of value marked for those who twenty-nine hundred volumes which cover a had asked for such material. wide scope of subjects including fiction old They were routed first to those for whom and new. This gift was formally accepted on articles were marked and after that to those behalf of the employees by the president of who wanted to see the magazine each time. the company, at special exercises held in the After a while we had few of those left. library, Wednesday, June 17th. This library We always had a special routing slip, but is to be kept as a separate collection, in an this is not really necessary as the page nurn- alcove by itself. ber can usually be written on any routing We have no special features but wc are slip. Of course this presupposes that the really a general library as the twenty-nine magazines are returned to the library each hundred and thirty books (this is exclusive time. of the Henry W. Towne collection), cover most of the subjects found in a public library. At Winchester's the first place I used this, We purchase an average of twenty-five books this selective methad was finally extended into of fiction and ten non-fiction per month. what might be called a "clipping" system. Thls We have a trade catalog file of sixty-eight was done on the recommendat~onof the gal- hundred catalogs that had been put in order era1 manager. With the exc'eplion of Fac- just before I took over the work. The small tory and Systew, all the magazines after be- ones are in vertical files and the large ones ing reviewed were taken apart and importat~t in a rack especially constructed for them. articles put in manila covers and thus routcd Last month, there was a total circulation to those who would be interested. For this of thirty-three hundred and fifty-seven, of we had a very elaborate routing slip. This which sixteen hundred and four were books meant at least three copies, one to kcep corn- The reading room attendance, by which we plete for the file and two to clip. 1 d011't mean the number who used the library at noon recommend this, system as the value recewed as well as those who came in during the day does not compensate for the labor involved for books, etc. was twenty-two hundred and As I said in the beginning, the selective seventy-two. Therc has been an average of system has a tendency to over-come the habit ninety-five reference questions per month of keepmg magazines over the time limit, as since January 1st. is usually the difficulty with he routine method Three hundred and thirty-two periodicals of circulating. We arc itlstallit~git soon 011 were received and sixteen hundred and sev- the works library. enty-three circulated during last month. These are sent out according to regular rout- An address by Miss Lenore A. Tafcl niatle ing lists, with the usual difficulty in getting at the sccond session is printed as the last them back. paper in this group. October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 377

Third Session, June 25. 1925 to so arrange telephone business that evcry- body in the United States who has a tele- Topic: "How the Special L'bra'y phone may be able to talk to everybody else Serves Public Utility Companies." in the United States who has a telephone." I. Thus you can appreciate that in order to do all this it is most necessary for the com- Telephone and Telegraph pany to be kept fully informed on numerous Company and different subjects. This information must By Mary de J. Cox be authentic and reliable as well as obtain- able. To meet this condition involves sources To make a fifteen-minute talk with the above of information which are met by the special as a title seems quite a formidable undertak- library in the collection of material which ing and I approach it with some hesitancy. it has. 1 am certain, however, that is as long as You Today in our organization we have three desire me to speak on this rainy afternoon, special libraries and a newspaper clipping arid in that respect you will no doubt appre- bureau. They are the legal, the engineering ciale a story attributed to John D. Rockefel- and the general libraries. The first takes up ler. When he was once called upon for a the Iegal side of the telephone industry. the short talk at a dinner gathering he stated second, the technical side and the last, the that he would be mindful of the fact that the general side including everything not touched longer the spoke, the greater the tire. upon by the other two. All of these libraries As you know, the topic under discussion as well as the clipping bureau are entirely this afternoon relates to how the special li- separate and come under distinct departments. brary serves public utilities and I shall speak You may be wondering the reason for this from the standpoint about which I know, that 'and the reason why they have never been con- of the telephone industry. You may perhaps solidated. In an organization'as large as ours realize that the American Telephone and it has seemed more workable to have them Telegraph Company is the parent company of this way, as they all serve such definite and the well-known Bell System, whose subsid- specialized purposes intimately related to the iary cornpariles are all over the United States. work of the departments to which they are Through these subsidiary companies it car- attached. Thus they work out better as sepa- ries on a telephone business in every state and rate units rather than one large whole. They territory with the exception of Alaska, and all co-operate to the fullest extent, however, its interests, therefore, are country-wide. The and they are used by all departments of the offices of this parent company are located in company. New York City. Conditions affecting different The library about which 1 can speak best parts of the country like the San Francisco is the general library of which I am head. earthquake, the Baltimore fire, a severe sleet This library celebrates its fifteenth birthday storm or a large business failure are all of this summer, and although it started prim- concern to the company as well as to the marily as an accounting library, it has so people in those specific localities. This gives grown and broadened in these years that to- the company the opportunity as well as the day it is the main general library of the com- privilege of carrying on a business throughout pany. Our placc in the organization is under an extenswe territory and also carries with the Chief Statistician's Division of the (7omp- it a duty to the public which it attempts to iroller's Department. Although this division meet. As a late vice-president of ours has makes use of us more than anyone else, we said: "It must be ready to supply facilities have constant calls from all departments of for millions of tclephone conversations every our company, as well as the New York Tele- day; it must replace the facilities destroyed phone Company and the Western Electric by fire, earthquake, cyclone and flood; it must Company. The latter are two of our sub- give those who are involved in a business sid~arieswhose executive offices are in New failure every possible chance of recouping York. We approach the telephone industry losses and reestablishing business. In other largely from the side of business and financial words, it must to the fullest extent of its economics. Broadly speaking, our principal ability deserve a patronage of the business subjects are accounting, statistics, econon~ics and work toward its ultimate object, which is, and finance including the many subsidiary 278 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1915 topics more or less directly related to these other general and special libraries, all of which subjects. After these fifteen years, we now work in close co-operation. I should like to have a collection along these lines of about emphasize this splendid co-operation which is thirteen thousand volumes, including books daily being given. We in New York realize and pamphlcts. We also receive yearly about this fully and feel, I know, that we could one hundled and seventy-four periodicals in- not give the service we do, if it were not for cluding business services, as well as many the effcctive and willing aid of each other business condition reports from all over the whenever called upon country together with governn~ent press re- d. Routing of Material. This includes lease material relating to our interests. We sending material out when it is specifically handle all material of a general reference or asked for, such as the regular periodical rout- information character. All of this material is ing lists and the regular waiting lists for not filed here in the general library but in- books, pamphlets, etc., the new material par- cludes that which is in our various branches ticularly bcing in the latter class. It also in- or small collections filed in different offices cludes the sending out of new material even of which we have charge. For example, if it if it has not been specifically asked for. In is anything relating to government ownership this way we try to keep everyotle informed both pro and con which we may have, it is with the latest information on a given sub- filed in the Public Utilities Section of the ject, especially when ~t is in direct connection Chicf Statistician's Division and physically with their work. it is located twenty floors away from us We Endeavoring as we do to render the services have also branch libraries in our Financial lust described, you can see how we look upon and Personnel Departments. All of this ma- all departments and offices of the company terial is cataloged here, however, and we have as custon~ersor potential customers whom it access to it at any time either for reference is our function to serve largely on a com- or loaning purposes. mercial basis; that is, we feel that we must The kind of services which we attempt to not only be prepared to serve passively, but make might be classified briefly as follows: that we must actively take the initiative in a. Referetaw and Research. We not only "selling" our wares. We feel we will prosper have a great many people who use the library largely in accordance with the extent and themselves for purely reference work, but we value of our services, and that this isn't also have many calls for research work which wholiy dependent upon external circumstances we undertake to do for them. These calls but largely within our own control. Thus we are many and varied and take anywhere from try to fill each request directed to us and to a few minutes to many hours, all according answer each question in regard to library to the subject. These subjects range all the material as quickly, fully and accurately as way from wages in the buildmg industry possible. This may be a deiinlte call for a from 1900 to date or a course of bond prlces particular book or all thc information we over a period of years to the number of wash- have on a given subject. We issue each month ing machines in use in the United States. a list of the new additions to our library dur- ing thal period. These lists have a wide cir- b. Circulating In this regard anyone is culation both internally within our own or- privileged to take out any material, whether ganization and externally to our associated it is in direct or indirect connection ~viththelr companies. Very often we have requests work. In that way the library becomes, often- from them, principally by letter, just where times, a purely circulating one. a certain book or report mentioned in these Clearing House of Information. The li- lists may be obtained or our advice as to the brary seems to fill a definite need in this re- talue of a specific ncw book. Then, too, we spect, for if we haven't the information re- have requests from them, as well as members quired we arc supposed to know where it can within our own parent company, for bibliog- be obtained either in the company or outside raphies on given subjects In many cases we tell the persons where they In order to give the kind of service we can obtain the information themselves; in wish, it is, of course, quite necessary for US others, particularly if it is outside the com- to constantly keep in as close a touch as pany, we obtain the information for them. practicable with the varying needs and inter- Many times this necessitates borrowing from ests of our clientele. We make every effort October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 279 to inform ourselves largely through unob- tlon company doing business particularly along trusive, indirect inquiries of the new develop- the lines of designing, construction and main- ments of the work of the different depart- taining of all kinds of public utdity and in- ments. By noting carefully calls which they dustrial plants, electrification of steam rail- make upon us, we are able to g~vcmuch road properties, paving of roads, making of information of this kind. We attempt to iol- efficiency tests and reports, and valuation stud- low the work of one department as closely ies and financing. The Public Service Stock as the work of another depar~mcntand to and Bond Company was organ~zcdthe first of meet their demands with equal facility. We this year for the purpose of assisting In every also Lry in so far as possiblc to sense the possible way, public service investors of wants of our customers in advance so thal which there are over one hundred and twenty we may be fully prepared to mect their de- thousarid who are financially interested in mands when thcy are made. In accordance various public service enterprises. with our success in maintaining these stand- Since the scope of public service is so wide ards we win the greater confidence of those and varied, naturally the materlal on file it1 whom we servc, and the value of our liberty the library must also be of a vaned nature. is correspondingly enhanced all the more. We cannot specialize in any one subject as This briei description may suffice to tell minutely as we should like to simply because you how the special library serves the tele- we have not the space and there are so many phone company, particularly the one I have subjects to be covered il we desire to serve talked the most about, the general library. every branch of our organization. We have The company apparently feels we are a worth- on file approximately five thousand books and while investment upon which they receive a pamphlets includmg volumes of bound maga- sufficient return, as they never hesitate to zines, associat~on reports and proceedings, back us up in every possible way. We, in our publ~cservice commission, munic~paland stale turn, fecl it is a duly as well as a privilege reports and government publications. We have to serve them in cvery possible way, and we also a very up-to-date file of approxmately one more than receive a return for whatever thousand trade catalogs. This file was erilirely servicc we may render. re-organized and brought up to date last sum- mer by sending out letters to rcprcsentative cn- gineers in the company, asking that they send in to us a list of those catalogs which they Public Service Corporation of New Jersey consiclcred should be on file in the library. It was from the replies received that our present file was made up. After all catalogs Before setting before you the methods em- were received, indexed by company and sub- ployed by the Public Service Library in serv- ject, lists containing the names of those on ing the executives and employees of the Pub- file were distributed throughout the company lic Service Corporation of New Jersey, I calling attention to this file and requesting would like to give you an idea of the char- that names of new catalogs be sent in from acter of the organimtion served. The name timc to time as they were needed. A supple- "Public Service Corporation of New Jersey" ment to this list is in preparatiorl now and is somewhat misleading as it does not divulge will be distributed in the fall. the number oi subsidiary companies included In order to put before the officials and de- in it. The Public Service Terminal Building partment heads rate changes, new incorpora- in Newark, in which the library is located, tions, current market prices of inaterials, is the home office not only for the corpora- labor conditions, commission, rul~ngs, court tion executives, but also for the Public Service decisions, new construction projects, bank Electric and Gas Company, the Public Service clearings, stock and bond prices, etc., as they Railway Company, he Public Service Produc- appear in the financial papers and technical tion Company and the Public Service Stock press, we issue daily a bullelin called the and Bond Company. The first two companies Library Broadcasting Bzdlctin. We have been supply gas, electricity and transportation to publ~shingthis bulletin now for two years and five-sixths of the state of New Jersey. The it has proven bofh satisfactory and popular. Pubiic Service Production Company, organ- It consists of but one sheet and is placed on ized in 1922, is an engineering and construc- the desk of thirty executives not later than a80 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, rgag g:30 each morning. Outside of the officials books distributed and 51,264 magazines, mak- we only distribute it to those departments ing a total of 59,312, which was a 10 per cent. heads, .who make a request for it. Our mail- increase over the previous year. During the ing list at first only numbered fourteen. To- first five months of this year we have cir- day it had doubled .itself. In many depart- culated 3,004 books and 22,295 magazines. ments it is passed from office to office SO The library is used as a recreational read- that all may read it. The favorable' com- ing room during the noon period for those ments on it have been most gratifying. in the building or for any outside etuployees We also issue from time to time lists of who are in the building at that time. The ncw books and magazine articles on various latest copies of magazines, such as Life, Sat- subjects with a brief abstract of each. These urday Evening Post, Literary Digest, Out- are sent to all offices not only in the terminal look, National Geographic Magazine and many huilding at Newark but to all gas and elcc- other current and fiction magazines are sub- tric plants, car houses and commercial offices scribed to for this purpose We also have throughout the state. The material for these about one hundred of the latest fiction books outside employees is handled by the Railway borrowed from the public library's duplicate Company, all mail for the outside offices be- pay collection. These are lent to our em- ing carried free of charge in company mail ployees at the usual IC a day rate. New bags. One way we have of interesting these books are added to this collection about twice out of town people is by distributing from a month and those which have not proven time to time posters calling attention to some very popular returned. phase of the library service. Another is by Besides the ways mentioned of serving our means of the company house organ. In this executives and employees might be added that paper we either have a library article or a we are frequently asked to prepare papers on list of new books. Telephone requests are various subjects for some of the men who encouraged by distributing a 3 x5 desk card have talks to deliver, abstract articles, com- with the suggestion that it be placed under the pile reading lists on outside subjects, and to glass covering a man's desk. In this way the dig up information on almost any subject. library is contmually being called to his at- We have tried with the Public Service Library tention. (I have a few of these cards on hand to make the men feel that we are there to if anyone should wish to see them.) In many serve them and that no question or request cases the chief clerk in these outside offices is too difficult for us to at least attempt to acts as library assistant To him we address solve for them. If we cannot answer it from all material which, when received, is distrib- our own files, we turn to other libraries, both uted by him to those whose names appear business and public, and to other organizations. posted on the magazine cover. He checks Right here, I might add that we keep a file it up and returns it to us when the men of questions asked. Not all questions, but have finished with it. unusual ones and those on which we have Besides the lists and bulletins already tnen- spent considerable time The sources used tioned, we issue a monthly bulletin of con- in locating the information is also recorded vention meetings which are to be held on these question cards as well as the person throughout the country with the subjects of making the request. the papers lo be presented. Bibliographies I believe this covers practically every way are also compiled upon request. The begin- in which we serve public service. You might, ning of each year a list of the magazines to however, be interested in knowing that me which we are subscribing is mailed each em- have a cadet system in some of our com- ployee having an application on file, asking panies, whereby a college graduate enters the him to check those he wlshes sent him regu- employ of the company when leaving college larly, to sign his name and business address, and serves an allotted time in each depart- and return the list to us. In order to supply ment so that when he has been through all the demand for certain magazines on this list the departments he has a very thorough idea we subscribe to from 3 to 10 copies of each of the workings of the organization These magazine. The work involved in handling cadets are directly responsible to the Director the magazine and book circulation requires of Education, and when entering the employ the full time of two assistants every morning. of the company they are brought by him to Last year our circulation figures were--8,048 the library and introduced to us. From then October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 281 on until they graduate inlo a permanent posi- administered from the library point of view. tion in one of the departments, they prac- Although the railroads have been regulated tically make the library their camping ground. by stature since 1887, it was only in 1920 that Every month they have a report tb prepare by the terms of the Transportation Act the on the work they have just accon~plishedand Interstate Commcrce Commission was given it is no unusual sight to see e~ghtor ten the unli~nitcd powers thcy now enjoy. In spending two or three days at a time at our accordance with the provisions of this act the tables, using our t~pewntersor bringing their railroads are required to supply that body with own Coronas. One might remark that that many more statistics than ever before, which doesn't sound induclve to a quiet library. It means a greater burden placed upon the roads, isn't, but they are acquiring the library habit entailing the gathering of a great amount and in the future they will just naturally turn of information and statistics. In many cases to the library when they want certain infor- the machinery for this work of fact gather- mation. ing and analysis had to be organized and set I have not mentioned indexing, filing or UP. catalog methods as the same methods are The economic changes taking place in the more or less generally used in all business railroad business have been so rapid and con- libraries, besides I think we all have to work slant since the war that one of the great prob- them out to suit our own individual needs. lems has been to keep abreast with the many I should, however, be very glad to answer any new questions developed by the present stage questions anyone wshes to ask regarding our of the flux. A railroad no longer carries its work at public service. freight solely on rails but occasiotlally owns and operates motor buses and trucks making possible delivery to the very door of business. Transportation is rapidly becoming a highly Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company co-ordinated business of carrying by rail, By Miss Jessie Callan water, motor and by air, and the railroads are eagerly studying and adjusting here and The librarian who sets out to adapt and con- there to meet the changing conditions and new nect up the services of a library to the special demands. Consolidation of roads !ouches demands of the traffic department of a rail- every railroad in the country, large and small, road, very soon becomes aware that this or- rich or poor and reasons for acquiesence with ganization is not only highly specialized as a or dissent from the preliminary plan have unit in the management of a railroad but that been presented to the commission in hearings it is linked up with every phase of our busi- on this subject. Valuation of railroads is an- ness and social interrelations and is the great- other question which is slowly nearing com- est single factor in our modern industrial pletion, which will mean a body of official fig- efficiency. She is forced to turn student of ures on which to base rates in the future. railroad economics in order to understand Better public relations and the education of and appreciate its ramifications which are the public concerning the ,exact and true con- amazingly wide-spread and far-reaching until dition of railroads, are movements fostered by the railroad seems almost universal in its ap- the executives as being of increasing impor- plications, and that she may more sympathetic- tance In order to prevent political interference ally approach the problem of making her li- and unnecessary legislation. The precarious brary ideas work in connection with these financial state in which many of the railroads ramifications Not only must she learn the find themselves has necessitated a rearrange- place of the traffic departmcnt in the railroad ment of ideas concerning their relations with but also the part to be played by the library the public upon which they are dependent for in the traffic department. The librarian of support in the sale of their securities and for the Traffic Department of the Bessemer & their favor as shippers. All these problems Lake Erie Railroad has simply tried to set and many more, demand a more exact use of forth here her own ideas concerning what she and careful attention to the compilation and has learned about the gathering of informa- collection of all available information and sta- tion and unifying what has already been col- tistics pertaining to the business of transpor- lected, and to state her conception of a traf- tation. These various ~roblemsprobably have fic library as it should be constituted and a more direct bearing on the work of the a8a SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1995 traffic department than on that of any other of the business methods of various enterprises department of a railroad slnce it is the direct he has acquired broad knowledge which en- ,-ontact between the management and the ables him to act as counselor and adviser to people require and use the service. the railroad's patrons in their industries, Along the intensification of effort and pointing out defects in distribution or pro~l~~- greatly increasing amount of work which the tion methods, or advantageous moves which of the traffic department have taken might be made. Therelore, it is impol-tant on in order to bridge that adjustnlcnt from to havc a flexible and diversified collection of Fetleral co~~tsolto the period of stabilization material on general business and financial stlb- the (lemands for lniormation and statistics jects as well as an intensified collectioa of from shippers and the public in general are special railroad subjccts, to form an adequate growing, The responsibility for the carrying source of information for the researches of out of the traffic end of the Program, of the the trafic manager. increased effort of the railroads has been too While the trafic department ordinarily con- much of a tax on the officials of this depart- tains the nuclcus of a very good lib]-ary and ment for them to be tied down to the neces- collection of material in the Interstate Corn- sary details of organizing, analyzing and dis- merce Commission decisions, state public util- senlinating the fund of information which ity reports, proceedings and regulations of the floods the department and which is so vital freight rate committees, the periodicals, coi11- as a basis for the statistical reporting. As a prchcnsive files of correspondence and general result of this imperative need for readily ac- information, the data usually is not organized cessible data and facts put into usable form, and inter-related to give the valuable service it has been recognized that a library through to thc office of which ii is capable when the functioning of a librarian may rcheve the properly handled. The efficiency of a railroad executives of much of the onerous task of office as that of any other office, so las as the keeping track of and properly disposing of the library has anythlng to do with it, is based 011 ever increasing amount of printed matter, to such details as the easy access of all its rcc- the best advantage of the department. orcls and corresponderlce and the smooth flow- The service of the library must be devel- ing OF all information through thc office, the oped to promote the interests of the entire choosing of the worth-while and putting it personnel of the department from the traffic through the process of preparation lor future manager who determines the policy of the de- use in order to be able to deliver it wllen partment on down ihc line. Thc traffic mana- wanted again. ger, in addition to being an expert in the ad- Besides the main body of statislical data ministration of all traffic, more than likely and information usually found In the traflic knows as much law as applied to railroads as department, thcre may be much valuablc ma- a lawyer, is as keen in his knowledge of the terial collectecl by individuals on specific sub- most intimate affairs of busilless and fillance jects of interest to them. When this infor- as ally executive of an industry, and is a mation has served its purpose and there is no dlplo~natin his relations with the public, all longer any immnediate interest in it, it is gut in one and the same person The maklt~gof into the files often unknown to anyone else rates and the drawing up of traffic rules and in the office and becomes I~uriedbecause it is regulations are dependent upon precedent es- not tied up in any way with .the general con- tablished by the rate committees and the law tent of the files The official having collected as contained in the Transportation Act, and, this material has httle or no time for such therefore, the necessity for legal ktio\vledge out-of-his-line details as indexing and filing as a basis for the guidance of the railroad but he does have a very great interest in industry as affected by law on the one hand whether he or any other member of the de- and ~conomicson the other hand By reason partment can find this material at the proljer the dependence of business on railroads and moment, when wanted. the traffic department in particular for the If everyone in the department is allo~vedto service which makes it possible to carry on play with his personal ideas as to where a profitably, the traffic manager must anticipate subject belongs in the files, there would be the business man in his every &ange of pol- no uniformity of headings for subjects and icy and his needs for different kinds of confusion would result When more than vice. As a consequence of his intensive study one pcrson is permitted to indicate where an October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 283 item is to be filed the result is bound to be recognize th~sacceptance on their part of the haphazard and confusing in the final search library idea. Upon this relation, this worklng for it. Xo file is automatic and unless records agreement, between the librarian and the exec- are gathered in an orderly fashion and with utives of the department, hinges the success the knowledge of what is already contained and effectiveness of the llbrary. in thc files or on the shelves, there will be The question may be put; smce the Bureau gaps in serial publications and proceedings, or of IZailway Economics has already established, entirely unnecessary duplication of material, as far back as IQIO, a very complete hbrary and waste of effort and space. The value of and has made an exhaust~vesurvey of rail- all printed matter connected with the activi- way materlal contamed in thirteen large li- ties of the traffic departmcnt is in relation to hraries of the country, is constantly keeping in the degree of its availability when wanted. All touch with the acquisitions irl over one hun- information should go through a clearing dred libraries at the present time, as well as house, in our own case the library, before ~t compiling bibliographies on all current eco- is routed through the office and then filed. nomic questions relating to railroads, why is The work of indexing and analyzing ma- it neccssary for an individual railroad to or- terial should be done by one whose sole re- ganize a library, and that library to serve sponsibility ~t is to co-ordinate all fact-gath- only one de~rtment? ering processes in the office. While ~t may The Bureau of Railway Economics serves be true that only those directly connected a very widely scattered though special clien- with the affairs of the traffic department know tele made up of all the railroads and the the necessary fields in which to gather sta- students of railroad problems and, therefore, tistlcs and information, evaluation of the lit- is national in scope. Its content stresses the erature and printed matter is acquired very broad economic phases of railroads and lorms rapidly by the one who handles it m index- the ground-work for research in its, strong ing and cataloging if she is held accountable historical and statistical collections. While for it. the ~roblemsof all railroads are identical in Thus it becomes only a step from the highly their larger aspccts, in the dctalls of manage- organized filing system and collection of ma- ment and operation each railroad is a law terial, pamphlets and books already in the unto itself, in its reason for being and in ~ts office to the formation of a library, knitting development, and by reason of ~tslocation together all forms of information. But the with relation to mining and manufacturing person who undertakes this work must care- industries, may have an interest in particular fully and prayerfully approach thls work of commodities and in industry. A railroad com- serving a group of experts having extensive pany may, therefore, build its library on just knowledge in their subject and whose needs the literature of its individual problems, which are special and exacting. As the librarian may' not be rallroad problems strictly speak- learns more and more about railroad eco- ing, but collateral thereto, relying on the nomics and railroad terminology she finds bureau for history, statistics, complcte series that she must constantly adjust and ,readjust of publications and exhaustive general treat- her Ideas about collecting, filing, indexing ises, and current llsts of material on problems and circulating information to meet the of today. In this library should be little or requirements in this field. The fact that an no duplication, except for essential works such organization realizes the advantages of hav- as the Interstate Conwnerce Cor~zmissionRe- ing an information center in the office to the ports, FOOT'S Manuals and Analyses, and the extent of establishing a library and engaging general reference books to be found in any the services of a librarian, shows that its office library, and the collection should be executives are willing to go more than half rather supplementary in its particular field of way in varying their point of view in giving railroad affairs. over the administration of this information Just as the Bureau of Railway Economics to her, which has been collected at the ex- does not aim to be the most comprehensive pense of the time of its most valuable mem- railroad library in this country, but rather to bers. The librarian in turn should be only be the chief fact gathering body and the too ready to co-operate by learning the de- instrument to make known the places where partment's ideas, so far as they concern the all existing and available information about handling of literature and data and thereby the railroads may .be found, so the company 384 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925 library should aim to use all thc existing ma- concerned and in time probably will be terial, klrow whele it is to be found, collcct strongcr in lines collateral to railroad sub- as little as possiblc but concentrate on the lit- jects with inlormation about local conditions erature oi i~sindividual needs. The library which surround us, stressed. of a company, though small, then becomes a The library of the Bessemer 8: Lake Erie vital link in the co-ordination and widespread Railroad Traffic Department was established distribution of information as is advocated by almost three years ago and in that short lime the Bureau oi Railway Economics, through no claim is made to having solved all the whose services it has become entirely unnec- many problems of its cxistence. But there is essary and wasteful for a railroad to try an ideal toward which to strive and we have to have a complete railroad library. discovered a few basic principles upon which Mr. Rlchard 13. Johnston, librarian of the to lay our work toward thaL end. Our ac- Bureau of Railway Economics, has said in complishments in the library may not be many SPECIALLIBRARIES for June, 1918,that "it was but a few of the things which we have found not the aim or endeavor of the bureau to ob- helpful I shall dcscribc, tain an exhaustive collection; it can look on It is usually worth-while to make a study with calmness at the acquisition of a prized of what is contained in the public and the item by another, so long as that other is a special libraries in the colnnlunity for helpful library. But secondly, it was to be its ain~ material which may be borrowed or referred to secure exact information as to the con- to at a time of need. To mention a few of tents of other collections, not only the infor- the specific values of local libraries to our mation of the bureau library but also to serve organization : the Technology Department of other libraries and students." the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which When a railroad library is mentioned the makcs a particular point of collecting malerial uninitiated or casual observer may think of on iron and steel manufacture and otlvr Pitts- it as being a closely knit organization of ma- burgh industries which, of coursc, are of in- terial 011 the subject of railroads. Upon de- terest to our company as a carrier in this dis- fining the service which a railroad renders, trict; Mr. J. Oscar Emrich, l~brarianof the one finds that it sells transportation to a com- Allegheny County Law Llbrary, has almost a munity, and transportation is the carrying of completc file of the public utilities commis- persons, commodities and cornmuriication of sions of all the states; also the Pennsylvania ideas from one place to another as related Railroad Library collects the state railroad to the economic law of supply and demand, commission reports of all the states througll which makes it possible for commodities to which the road passes; the Bureau of Mines be carried from their sources as raw materials Experiment Station maintains a llbrary which where they are grown, mined or manufactured. makes available the bureau publications on re- to places where they are put into various searches in coal and coke, subjects with which stages of the process of making them usable railroads are intimately concerned since they to the ultimate consumer, so that it seems are such large consumers of fuel. To one to be related in scme tnanner to all existing who is tramed to recognize the inestimable angles, economic and social, of our modern value of making a preliminary scarch for in- lifc. Then it must be readily understood that formation close at hand when a question is this question of the relation of transporta- to be answered or statistics to bc compiled tion to supply and demand embraces the whole before launching on an exhaustive research, field of economics as it touches all the people's the local libraries yield a fund of data and wants and embraccs the prevailing national save much time and annoyance to the or- conditions of agriculture, mining and manu- ganization. Very of ten the actual material facturing, and beyond the fundamental simi- is not so important as lo know the sources larities of all railroad services there are many of information and their limits. varieties of service as related to particular Here, as in any library serving a business, localities and the things transported, which periodical literature ranks very high in value. make it impossible to lay down any hard and Six periodicals are considered worth binding fast rules about what a library should con- as permanent reference material, some are tain. In our own library we are constantly kept indefinitely, some are kept for one year on the search for all printed material on sev- and some for two years and then .discarded. eral commodities with which we are much Current articles of. interest are indexed October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 285 whcthcr they are found in railroad periodicals nomics Library furnishes proof of all its ad- or not, and thc numbers containing thcse ditions on cards to the Library of Congress, articles are retained whelher that particular which is a co-operative service informing the periodical is marked 10 be destroyed or not. subscribers to he Library of Congress proof At the end of the ycar these index cards are shcets of the classification and subject head- checked for those numbers which are to be ings used by the Bureau of Railway Eco- retained. The indes cards are iiled in the nomics for each addition. There is another regular catalog bul are of a differing color advantage lor our library in using the Li- lrom the regular cards in ordcr to make clear brary of Congress classification, the one sec- that the information is current. tion covered by the letter "H" is inclusive of Because our library is small in size and all cconomics as well as ra~lroadcconomics, volume the chief conccrn is to see that every which groups almost every thing in our li- item does its proper share in the scheme of brary here This section contains all relaling facts to the activities of thr depart- branches of transportation, roads, waterways, ment. The index should be the central in- railroad, electric railways, motor transport as dicator of where to locate information, well as statistics, economic theory of prices, whether it is to bc found in the files, in books, business cycles, agriculture .and industry, in Interstate Coimncrce Commission dockets, money and banking. in court proceedings, or in another office. We One of the most useful of our operations are working toward this potentially complete in the library is the indexing of the Inter- catalog. As the files stand today, highly or- state Commerce Commission dockets, accord- ganized so far as "pure" traffic matters are ing to subject. As these dockets come into concerned, their interrelation with what is on the library in their mimeographed form, cards the shelves can only be accornblished by means are made both for the numerical file by oi a central analytical catalog. docket number and for the subject, and later Map collection is treated in the same man- on ~f a decision is handed down by the In- ner as other material and is indexed in the terstate Commerce Commission and reported gencral catalog. The maps are placed in in pamphlet form, the citation to the bound loose leaf binders and filed in a special map volume is recorded on these cards and in this case. way a complete history of each case is kept. Every piece of printed matter which comes The Interstate Commerce Commission does into the office, outside of straight corresponcl- not publish its bound volumes of decisions ence and the freight cornmittec circulars, is until about a year after the decisions contained cataloged and indexed in the library before therein have first appear,ed in separate printed it is sent through the department for inspec- form. The bound volumes are very thor- tion. If a book or pamphlet requlres exten- oughly indexed, since the Interstate Commerce sive work or analysis, it is merely classified Commission has a separate Bureau of In- at first and a preliminary card made in order dices which is responsible for the indexing of not to hold it up and to facilitate its move- every decision as well as court decisions which ment through the offices and the work on it have a bearing on transportation matters. But is completed when it comes back to the li- the work of this bureau is only available in brary. In this way we maintain a check on the hound volumes, which means that we must all material in the offices and in the library wait for over a year sometimes to find a de- without delaying any literature while still cision if the number of the subject matter is new. We try to keep close tab on this material unknown, unless a general search is on This when it comes back to us for any comments index makes each docket available from the on it or reactions to it which wc might re- instant it enters the office, by filing it accord- flect in handling it Tor indexing and for sub- ing to the docket number and the key to its ject headings. numbers and subjects is maintained on-cards. We have adopted the Library of Congress In addition to the regular periodical indexes classification because it has been expanded to for which we subscribe, we lcarn of what is take care of the large collection of railroad being published by close examination of peri- material in the Library of Congress, and with odical literature itself, both general and rail- minor changes and additions for our articular road, the daily trade papers, the Monthly interests, we will not run the risk of out- Catalog of Government Publications, the growing it. The Bureau of Railway ECO- Weekly List of Publicofions sent out by the 286 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

Superintendent of Documents, the State List Society of Electrical Development of Publications issucd by the Library of Con- American Management Association gress, the lists of publications furnished cur- Society of Electragists rently by the Department of Commcrcc, De- National Safety Council partmcnt of Agriculture, Geological Survey, American Electric Railway Association Bureau of M~nes,and we subscribe for the American Institute of Electrical Engineer- proof sheets of the Library of Congress for ing their cards informing the subscriber what they American Railway Association have added to the Library of Congress each American Society of ivfechanical Engi- week. neers IV. Class B-Governwtent Publications Illinois Power and Light Corporation Bureau of Standards By Mrs. Jc~t~zieL Sclwa~rl Geological Papers and Maps Statistical Abstracts A special library in any public utility com- United States Bureau of Mines pany has lor its primary funct~on;Lo crccul~~u- Bureau of Commerce late definite and accurate information on all Labor Review phases of public utility business. Informa- Survey of Current Business tion must be reliable and up-to-date on the methods of construction, financing and man- agement of the industry Class C-Ref erence Books In order to serve a utility to the best ad- Central Station Directory vantage, one must understand thc peculiar Electric Railway Directory problems which confront it as well as the Atlas of United States fundamental problems relating to all public Moody's Publ~cUtilities utility business. To do valuable work does Brown's Gas Directory not depend on the large number of volu~nes National Electric Light Association Rate accumulated, but solely on the librarian's Book depth of zbrrderstattdbtg on all company busi- Dictionary-Dictionary of Electrical ness and the direct application of the infor- Terms mation on hand and available from outside Sweets Engineering Catalog sources on the current problems. To serve Handbooks of Engineering Subjects, etc. to the greatest advantage the library or ref- Thomas Register erence department should be the pulse of the Public Utility Reports Annual organization working force; the work of each Almanac department should be given active attention by the one in charge. To be able to place Class D-Periodicals material on the current problem of the mo- ment in a very short time, into the hands of Electrical World the men who are doing the work, is the Electrical Merchandising height of service to be rendered by any util- Gas Age Record ity librarian. American Gas Journal A small collection of reference books and General Electric Review a fairly good selection of periodicals on the Financial and Commercial Chronicle industry, supplemented by other sourccs out- Aera side of the organization, is a very sale and Stone and Webster valuable thing for any utility to have. The Electric Railway Journal following is a list of publications which will Engineering News form a nucleus to be of great service to a Public Service Management company : Administration and Management Printers Ink Weekly Class A-Tmnsactions of Associations Iron Age National Electric Light Association Coal Age American Gas Association Electric Light and Power American Society of Testing Materials Rate Research October, 1995 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 287 Class E-Publications of Other Cognpanies Merit Report of Public Utility Earnings Sales Bulletins Financial Dependence of People at Age House Organs of 65, etc. Annual Reports Regulations for Employees-Meter Engineering Departntent Readers, etc. 66,~Transmission Lines-Bibliography Investment Advertising Booklets Standards from Engineering Societie~ etc. Class F-Services Ventilating of Central Station Buildings National Industrial Conference Board Material on Pulverized Coal Brookmires Underground Water Supply in Certain Bradstreets States Manufacturing. News Mean Low and High Temperatures in United States Chamber of Commerce Certain States National Electric Light Association Trench Digging Machinery Public Opinions Specifications for Preserving Wood American Gas Sales Service Information on Bridge Floor-Creosote Dartncll Sales Service Blocks Steel Tower Constructions The I~tdustrial Arls Index will be an in- valuable tool for the many reference ques- Merchandising Department tions which come up in any public utility. Statistics and Information on Electric and In looking over the reference questions which Gas Appliances have been answered in our department the In- Accumulated Material on Sales Methods dustrial Arts Index gave the references to Articles on Home Lighting articles which answered the question, in about Information on the Formation of Elec- 89 per cent. of the total number of questions trical Leagues. .during the year. Uses of Electricity and Gas in All Its TObe specific as to how the Reference De- Ramifications partment has served the company in its various ,departments the following'subjects are among Commercial Department the ones on which we found material: Gathered from Other Companies' Printed -Roles and VaIuation Department Forms and Information on Hotel and Restaurant Business, etc. Cost of .Living in Cities and Towns Looked up Technical Infotrnation on Such Cost of Building Materials Things as Measurement of Heat Ab- Wages of Various Classes of Laborers sorbed by Clay During Firing Gas Department Accumulated Information on Gas House Recovery of Gasoline from Natural Gas Heating Electrolysis in Gas Mains-Signal Instru- Electric Commercial Cooking ments in Power Plants House Wiring Rural Electrification Jnvestment Department Material on Customer Ownership Cam- This department circulated the periodicals paigns as Used by Other Companies to the various members of the staff and filed Employee Stock Participation Plans and checked them for future reference. Cost of Selling Stock as Computed by It filed all information on public relations Other Companies by divisions and accumulated all information Stimulating Information on Thrift on this subject which is available. Interest Tables The department acted as a central file of Information on How Money Grows at all engineering and special reports on the company's propertles. It also filed all fran- Certain Per Cents. Amount of Public Utility Securities Held chises and ordinances and contracts with the company entered into. Any supervision of by Bans in the United States Investment and Capitalization of Public files in any of the departments was done by Utility Business in the United States the Reference Department. 288 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

This department also lceeps a record of all "And thc funny part of it is," IIC said, "Thcy'rc menlberships to associations, and the amounts good I" of donations given by any of the properties. The Policyholders' Servicc Bureau is a re- All publications taken throughout the ter- search organizat~onlor the usc nf the com- ritory were cleared through this deparln~ent, pany's group polic)~';olders-that is, for cxcc- which made a zo per cent. savings on all utives oi those coinpanics wh~chhave talcen magazines purchased. out life insurance or accidcnt and hcdth in- Concluding this article which was to cover surance for thcir employees with thc SIetro- fifteen minutes of the time there is one thing politan Life Insnrancc Co Among these whlch I believe is the most ~mportantpoint in group policyholclers-tlicrc arc over two serving a public utility and that resolves it- tliousaiid of thcrn-are e~nployers In practi- self into a perso~ial equation. cally every line of business and industry. The person in charge of a special library Thcir actirilies cover such varicd iielcls as should be wide awake to the needs of the or- mining, lumbering, farming, packing, public ganization and have the abilily to deliver the utilities, machinc shops, ~rrintingand puhlis11- goods with a strong emphasis on the iact that ing, banking, enginecring, hotels, laundries, it will hinder the progress of the company retal storcs and railroads. The Policy- and usefulness of her department if a line holders' Scrvicc Bureau is a clearing housc of duties is too sharply drawn. Anything of iniormation to which they may turn for which is handed to a person engaged in this an answer to practically my question which type of work should be done to the best of arises in the course of a day's work. their ability in spite of the fact that it may This bureau has grown up as thc result ol not be continued by the department, and later a definite need which made ilself felt early turned over to some department for perma- in thc history of group insurancc. Executives, nent routine. This only broadens the use- wished to exchange information They in- fulness and understanding of the librarian and vested in group insurancc bccausc thcy were is a large factor in the success of the idea intcrcsted in thc well-bcing of. their em- for which they stand, namely-applying printed ployccs. Of the live worrics in Lhe mind of knowledge to the work in hand in order to the worker today-What will happen if I lose take advantage of other people's successes as my job? What will happen if I am injured well as to avoid other people's failures. whlle on the job? What will happen to my family when I dic? What will happen to them when 1 am sick or meet with an acci- dent off the job? 'tVhat will happen whcn I The Policyholders' Service Bureau of the am too old to work?-group insurance answers Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. two. It ensures that the worker's family will receive an income while he is laid by bccausc The cha~rnmanof the Atlvcrtising, C'omincr- of illness or accident while not at work, and cia1 and I~iclustrial Group has asked tnc to that they will receive some help on his death. tell you soincthiny al)oul the research work Through their group insurance colltracls of the Policyhaldcrs' Service 13urcau of the esccutlves found themselves assoc~xtcd with Metropoli~anLife Insurancc Co. He Iiad 111 othcr e~npl~jycrswho had similar intcrcsls mind particularly, I think, Lhc reports which They were naturally interested in knowing are issl~cdby this bureau on lmsincss man- what these other con~paiiics wcrc doing to ageincnt and related subjects which would be encourage good relations between worlters and 11elpEul to special librarians in their own re- management. The M.ctropolitan L~feInsur- search problems ance Co. found itself in possession of a large You are pcrhaps wonclcrmg why a rcllrc- fund 01 such information which it was seiltative of a lifc insurancc company is ap- anxious to place at the disposal of its group pearing on your program to speak on busi- policyholders. It is the function of the' Pol- ricss research. You arc in the samc position, ~c~holdcrs'Service Bureau to make this avail- perhalrs, as thc foundry mnnagci- froin ilic able to group policyholders and to those co- iniddlc west who reccnlly visited the Home operating with it, through special reports, Ofice He explained that he had callecl to pan~phlets,correspondence, personal interviews find out why a lifc insurancc con~l~ai~ywas and through a monthly publication, The Exec- publishing pamphlets on fnundry practice. utives' Service Bulletitt. october, 1925 SPECIAL L,IBRARIES 289

Thc sl)ccial reports of thc burcau tlcal \v~tll Othcr organizations have approached the prob- yarlous phases 01 i~iduslrialrelations. They lem through the development of bcttcr ~ncth- show what is actually being donc b). cnl- ods In business managerncnt, especially by the ploycrs in such fields as training of folcmcn, arlolrt~on of a wcll-considclcd hudgct. Thc publication of house-organs, outdoor rccrea- bureau, in close co-operation with csecuti\cs tion, vacations. in the various fields covered, has devclopccl Closely conncctccl with the qucst~onof bet- a series of budgets for varlous inclustrics and ter relations l)~t~veenmanagement and businesses. Typical of these arc: "A Budget Gorkers is that of the safety ant1 cdnfort of' Plan- for. the Garment Iodust~y,""A Budget employees. Atnong the rcports issuccl on this Plan for the Ice Cream Trade," "A Budget phase of thc subject arc the series on "Foun- Plan for Railroads and Public Ut~l~tics,""Bud- dry Practice" ; "An Accident Survey of a Pub- geting 'for Metal Working Establish~nents," lic Utility Company ;" "An Accident Survcy of and "A Budget for the Department Stolc." a Large Coal Company ;" "Production Survcy I have tried to show you how the repo~ts of a Furniture Factory." of the Policvholders' Service Bureau arc the The stabilization of employment is of v~tal result of practical research by specialists in co~~cernto both managcnmit and workers the various fields coveted They are maclc The manapemcnt is anslous to stabdize pro- available to group policyholders and ot)ers duction and the worlccrs to have employlnent interested as the contribution of thc hletro- twelve months a year, -4 se~icsof ~~an~phlels,politan Life Jnsurance Co to Amcr~canhsi- "Steading Uusiness" is a study of attempts of ness In line with that company's motto ".4 varlous industries to stab~lizethe~r l)roduct~on company IS great only as it serves."

Financial Croup Chairman, Margaret Reynolds, Librarian, First Wisconsin National Bank, Milwaukee, Wis.

Annual Report 1925 to present officially their aims and accom- About a year ago a telegram from Sara- plishments before an important national or- toga Springs came to me. It was signed by ganization, therefore a group of Chicago special librarians saying Resolvcd: That the formulation of the plans they would suppoft me. In just what they and control of the exhibit be entrusted to were to support me I had no idea, but a little. a committee of Chicago financial librarians, later a telegram came asking me to act as appointed by the chair, with power to add chairman of the Financial Group for 1924-25 to their committee other members of the My report as chairman needs to be but a National Financial Group, as representatives simple one because the outstanding piece of of the National Financial Group; that the work done by the Financial Group since the endorsement of the chairman of the Na- Saratoga meeting was the exhibit held in con- tional Financial Group and also the president nection with the golden jubilee meeting of of the Executive Board of the Special Li- the American Bankers' Association in Chi- braries Association shall be obtained for the cago, September zg-October 2, 1924. final plans drawn up, by tlic Chicago libra- At the annual business meeting of the rians. Financial Group hcld at Saratoga Springs, The chair appointed the following members July I, rgq, the following resolution was of the Chicago group to serve on the com- adoptcd : m~ttee:Miss Nichols, Miss Wuchter, Miss Whereas: The convention of the American Savage, Miss Krausc and Miss Elliott - Bankers' Association is to be held in Chi- The American Bankers' Association as- cago during ,September, at which it 1s signed us a space in the lobby of the Audi- planned that the Fmancial Group of the torium Theater. Th~swas a splendid 'space Special Libraries Association should hold as all visitors entering the boxes could not -an exhibit, and help but pass this model library which was Whereas : Th~sis the first time that special entirely arranged and planned by the Chicago librarians have made an organized attempt committee. In the absence of Miss Ruth 190 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

Nichols, chairman of the committee, a formal Nearly every member of the American report will be read by Miss Alta Claflin, who Bankers Association Council, the mighty coun- showed her interest in the ~rojectby coming cil that wields the destinies of the bankers of from Cleveland to attend the exhibit. I am the country, camc to our exhibit. This was an only sorry that Miss Ruth Nichols, librarian outstanding fact because these men had many of the Federal Reserve Bank, Chicago, is not committee meetings as well as general ses- here to receive the thanks of the Association sions to attend. The visitors' register shows in person for her tremendous services. that almost every state was represented. Our heartiest thanks are due the Central During the year a committee consisting of Trust Company of Illinois, Halsey, Stuart & Miss Marion G. Eaton, chairman, Mr. C. C. Company, Harris Trust and Savings Bank and Eaton and Miss Marion Bowman have drafted H. M Byllesby & Company, Chicago, who a constitution which will be presented to the financed the exhibit for us. Thanks are also members of the group at one of our business due officers of the Federal Reserve Bank, the sessions. Continental & Comn~ercialBanks, H. M Byl- There are now forty-three members in the lesby & Company, Halsey, Stuart & Company, group. The Indexers, of Chicago, and the First Wis- MARGARETREYNOLDS. consin National Bank of Milwaukee for al- lowing their hbrarians to spend practically all Program of their time for four days at this exhibit. The financial journals gave us reading notices Firet Session, June 14, Igag both before and after the exh~bit. The As- Financial Backgrounds and Sources, by sociated Press, the United Press and business Elbert A. Harvey, Lee Iligginson Com- periodicals also gave us space. After the ex- pany, Boston. hibit, stories, some as long as three thousand (We regret that we are unable to pub- words, also appeared in magazines. lish Mr. Harvey's address.) Follow-up work from this exhibit is still Some Sources of Information on Stocks being done, the latest instance being a lett~r and Bonds, by Eleanor Cavanaugh, li- from India asking for suggestions about brarian, Standard Statistics Company, financial reading matter. During the week New York. following the convention members of the corn- (Miss Cavanaugh's valuable paper will mittee answered querles from various visi- appear as a supplement to SPECIALLI- tors which involved research work which BRARIES at a later d?te.) could not be done at the exhibit. I myself answered over one hundred queries from bankers througout the country. Instances, Second Session, June 25, 1925 amusing and otherwise, could be cited of the Credit Unions, by Roy T. Bergengren, questions that were asked Over fifteen hun- Credit Union, National Extension dred letters were sent out in advance to banks Bureau, Boston. throughout the country suggesting that their (Mr. Bcrgenren's address will appear reprcsentativcs visit our exhibit. in a later issue of SPECIALLIBRARIES.) We asked the various financial librarians to send us photographs of their libraries. All these postcrs but one were mounted and let- Four Minute Speeches on "What We Do tered in the Library of the First Wisconsin Every Day That Pleases Our National Bank. These posters are on exhibi- Officers Most." tion here, but, of course, the model library could not be repeated. The equipment in the hbrary was exace as it would be in a library. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The books on the shelves were taken from the various Chicago financial libraries, while By Ruth G. Nichols the pamphlets and clippings were also fur- The library service which I am going to nished by members of our group. Perhaps outline has nothing new or novel fo be de- some of you remember the photograph of the scribed. It includes the indexing and circu- exhibit which was used in SPECIALLIBRARIES lation of periodicals and newspapers, which to for November, 1924. a greater or less degree form a part of the October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES routine work of any business library. Whether the readers, usually keeps everyone satisfied, or not our officers are aware that they are and in the course of a few days, all requests pleased by ~t is largely left to conjecture. have been filled. We make every effort to Officers have a way of accepting most things keep our periodicals circulating and have had in a non-committal manner. Certain it is that very good co-operation from the officers id they rely on us to get their magazines to this matter. them, they use our periodical digest and this As soon as the digest is made up the slips branch of our wprk helps us as n~uchas any are filed in the permanent alphabetical index one thing lo serve them quickly and satisfac- file. Under the subject headings the slips are torily. filed by date, thus bringing the most recent As is now the common practice, all sub- ones foremost. The periodical index file is scriptions to periodicals or business services separate from the catalog and into it go en- are centralized in the library and practically tries about all kinds of information which we all the material of this nature received regu- wish to record more or less temporarily. We larly at the bank, whether by subscription or sometimes place in it references to articles gift, comes direct to the library and is cir- which we do not have but which could be se- culated from there to thc various persons cured. This file now, after several years, con- using it. stitutes a very valuable index to material on The usual check and routing cards and cir- subjects of interest to us, which would other- culation slips are used in this work. The wise be lost to us. Of course, we make an Library Bureau check card is used for check- effort to weed out the entries as we file others, ing and routing. There is a routing card for and, of course, our index is supplemented by each person to whom a periodical is sent. those of Wilson and others. But we find our These are typed in red and filed back of the index abundantly justified by two facts; first, check card. A periodical is sent to one per- that articles of interest are in our index con- son at a time and returned to the library to siderably in advance of the time the Wilson be started out again. The circulation slip indexes are available to us and, second, that carries a form which insures its return to the we index many items important to us, which library. would appear in no other index. We also As soon as periodicals are checked and have available important articles which ap- ready for circulation, they are placed on the peared in the four newspapers that we bind. librarian's desk, where they are examined at Samples of cards and slips used and of the once for 'inaterial of interest. All periodicals, digest accompany this paper. business services .and some newspapers like the Wall Street Jourttal thus pass under the librarian's scrutiny. All articles to be in- dexed are marked and passed on to the desk Continental and Commercial Bank of the cataloger, who makes the index slips, assigning the subject headings. As a rule By Sue Wucltter only subject heading slips are made and each sl~pshows all subject headings used for an The library of. the Continental and Con, article. Periodicals are rarely held up over mercial Banks functions not only in provid- an hour or two for this work. ing books, periodicals, clippings and financial Each week a periodical digest is made up services for the officers and employees, but it from a selection of the articles thus indexed. also creates a distinct service in research work, This usually consists of two or three sheets, In addition to the regular research work, com- multigraphed and circulated throughout the mon to all financial libraries, special func- bank. The officers and others using the di- tions are performed daily. These special gests indicate on them the articles they would functions consist of collecting and organizing like ta see and return them to the library, current business and financial indices, com- where the%- wants are satisfied as promptly piling data, and making charts. as possible. Sometimes three or four people About five or six times a year the bank! are wanting the same article at the same time. publish a bulletin called.the Trend of Bus;- In some cases we have two or three copies ness. The double page spread of barometric of a magazine. When we do not, diplomacy figures of this bulletin is furnished by the li- and planning, bearing in mind the needs of brary and from the figures the economist 292 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5 writes the text or explanation., This publi- obtain the result desired. he simple arith- cation is mailed to banks, bankers, corpora- metic average also compares very well with tions, and individuals in every state of the the monthly average figures in the Statistical unlon. It is issued gratis and its purpose is Bulletin published by the Standard Daily to set forth clearly and concisely the condi- Trade Service. The figures used are not cor- tion and trend of business generally. The rected for seasonal variation or secular trend, barometric part is divided into three sections, however. Commodity prices are also plotted The first divisiw is devoted to prices from on a monthly chart in relation to stock and 1gz2 to 1925, and mterpretations are based on bond prices. Another interesting phase of the the general price levels, money rates, and work is the compilation and plotting of fig- stock exchange quotations. The items used to ures comparing the position of our bank with interpret credit conditions are reported by other banks in the Federal Reserve System the Federal Reserve Board and include the So varied is the work in the library that no reserve ratio, bills bought, bills discounted, two days are exactly alike. Of course, there Federal reserve notes in circulation, loans and are the ordinary routine duties of the library, discounts, total deposits of member banks and but in general there is a great diversification the number of liabilities of business failures of work. It is not only interesting to the as reported by Dun. The productior~ and library staff, but very helpful to the bank trade section covers agricultural production, as a whole. production in twenty-two basic industries, building, employment, commodity shipments, bank debits and foreign trade. Many other uses are made of the infor- Bank of Italy, San Francisco mation and statistics that the library com- By K. Dorothy Fergzuon piles for use in this Trend of Business and for the purpose of keeping this information com- It is hard to pick out just one service that plete and chronological, a statistical record proves of unusual popularity, because so many known as the Black Book, is kept in dupli- of the services we render apply only to special cate. One is kept in the library and one by officers. the economist. The Black Book also contains To obtain a few pointers, I asked three or figures on various industries in which our of- four officers at random, what service they ficers are interested. These figures are used specially valued, and each gave me a different by loaning officers when considering a loan answer. I might sum up these answers as in one of these industries. The information follows : contained in the Black Book is adapted to serve many purposes and it is, therefore, a A. The new business man appreciated the eonsvnnt process to keep the figures up-to-date. faithful and twice-daily supply of leads Other figures are compiled from which which he receives as soon as poss~ble charts arc made for the economist. The pur- after the papers have reached us. pose of the charts is to give a clear picture B. The Credit Department seems to value of economic conditions and banking relations especially the digest which we have re- Sonic of thcse charts are on a daily, others cently compiled of the services and mag- on a monthly basis. They vary from "Ayres azines giving weekly or monthly reports Test" of pig iron production in relation to on business conditions and on certain stock and bond prices, to the daily record commodities in which the department has of commercial paper rates and their effect on a special interest. This digest is based on the same stock and bond prices. information contained in the very won- The daily chart is computed by means of derful piece of work done by the New taking the averagc high and low of the fifty York University entitled Search Book of average stocks given in the NEZWYo~k Tzmes Researclz Data. To this, is added certain and plotting thls figure together with the data concerning California. price of forty average bonds and the com- This digest will remind the credit tnan mercial paper rates. At the end of the month that every month, or every week the cot- a s~mplestatistical average is taken of the ton industry is reviewed in such and such daily figures, because the average stocks for a publication, that figures on exports or the month are not published soon enough to imports are to be found weekly and October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES '93

monthly in such and such a bulletin, and partm~nt began, very simpIy, to issue a so he need not gay attention to the mass we , digest of important articles in leading of business services that flood every bank ma ,dzines. This was, at first, prepared by officer's desk. It was evidently after an the two assistants to the Director of Re unusually heavy mail of just such ma- search, who always looked over the magazines terial that I was called upon to compile each day before they were circulated, for ma- this digest. terial necessary to their work. Finally, how- C. Apart from this special service, I think ever, it was taken over by the librarian, who. that the prompt daily newspaper clipping now spends the better part of at least two service bringing to all officers the latest days a week preparing it. In the beginning news, not only of banking subjects, but the digest was mimeographed, but as the de- of economic and allied subjects, helps mand for it grew it was printed on inexpen- them to keep in touch with numerous sive paper, in galley sheet form. Interests. At the beginning of this year it was decided to reduce the number of magazines received Add to this, the feeling that is now preva- by the department to those dealing simply with lent throughout the bank, that the library is banking, financial, commercial and agricul- really a clearing house of information to tural subjects, eliminating those dealing with which one may turn when in doubt, no mat- current events and similar topics, as the ter what the subject may be, no matter how World's Work, to circulate only those which small or mportant the need of knowledge, do not lend themselves to digesting, and to and that the answer received there will always increase the size of the digest, the number be based on some good authority. of magazines digested, and the variety of sub- I really think that this feeling that the li- jects covered. The digest is now printed in brary is the port of call to which executives folder form, instead of the former galley come when they do not know where else to sheet. turn ior information, has made the library The magazines digested cover banking. and is making it a really valuable working financial and foreign conditions, agriculture tool for all our officers. and livestock within the State of California and the Southwest, with particular emphasis IV. on southern California, and industrial and financial conditions in Los Angeles city and First National Bank of Los Angeles county. A very good economic service is is- By Alice Scheck sued weekly by a firm of local statisticians and economists and this service covers build- From its beginning, in 1920, the Research ing, population, real estate, general business Department of The First National Bank of and financial conditions in the city and Los Angeles and the Pacific-Southwest Trust southern California. A resume of each week's & Savings Bank subscribed to and circulated letter is given in the digest. The digest is among the officers and department heads of also used to announce new books and publi- the systein over fifty magazines. At the be- cations added to the library, a short review ginning of each year a list of the periodicals of the book being given being received by the Research Department A questionnaire recently sent out to those was mimeographed and sent out, each per- recaving the digest elicited most favorable son checked those he wished sent to him replies, only five indicating a desire to do with- regularly. Some of the men asked for ten out it, and these were men who preferred to or twelve titles, others for only threc or lour. attempt LO read the magazines themselves In any case it meant that each of these busy About three hundred and seventy copies of men was receiving at least one or two maga- the digest are sent out each week to officers, zines a day, and though they really wanted department heads and branch officers through- them, they found that they simply could not out the First National Bank-Pacific-Southwest read them thoroughly or even casually. It system. The digest takes the place of the in- also meant that the librarian or her assistant dividual magazines ; the magazines are kept spent at least three hours a day handling this in the library, and if anyone wishes to read "magazine trade." the whole article after reading the digest he So about two years ago the Research De- then asks for it and it is sent to him. 294 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

Some of the comments received in the ques- reading, and presents useful articles that tionnaire were as follows: I would not see otherwise." "The Weekly Magazine Digest is a tirne- "The Digest summary is instructive and saver and affords one an opportunity to of much value to an experienced banker. cover more articles than one would ordi- It fills, for me, a space long needed!' narily have time to." "I consider the Weekly Magazine Di- "Digest very helpful, as it saves a lot gest valuable, as it places before us only of reading. You usually give the meat worth-while articles!' of the articles, which is all that is wanted." "I think the Digest a very happy idea NOTE-MISS Reynolds, clzairman of the Fi- and look forward to it each week. In nanclal Group, while enroute to the Seattlc these busy days I do not have time to do Conference, sent a circular letter to all mem- one-half of the reading that I would like bers of the group. In this communication to do. This helps materially." she extended greetings to those who had not been at Swampscott, and she noted the pres- "Your Digcst brings items to my atten- ence of many new members. In conclusion, tion that I would not have time to read otherwise." she asked for any suggestions for the coming year and urged the members to plan at oncc "Consider very helpful in lining up for the 1926 meeting. reading material in a systematic manner." "The Weekly Digest enables me to The chairmen of other groups might well cover just that much more territory in my emulate this method of contact

Insurance Croup Chairman, Miss Florence Bradley, Librarian, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York Annual Report, 1915 so it is hoped these two discussions will bear The report was informal and not available fruit before another meeting. for print. As Mr. Henry Niles of the Life Insurance Meetings Sales Research Bureau of Hartford, came for A small number of people constitute the In- our third program to talk on the "Problems surance Group. of Insurance Research," it was decided to ask The first afternoon's program was given him to speak at one of the general sessions in- over to discussion of the possibilities of in- stead of to the group. What Mr. Niles had dexing insurance periodicals. Not that this to say confirmed or rather put into more con- was the plan of program--quite the reverse scious form the feeling that the chairman of in that Mr. Alexander Mack of the Weekly the Insurance Group has had for her two Underwriter had come all the way from New years of serving-that much important work York to talk on "Problems of an Editor in is being done within insurance companies that Getting Articles of an Educational Value." is of interest to special librarians. How im- The subject of indexing, however, was in- portant a part special librarians may play in evitable, and so impressed did Mr. Mack be- this work is a matter for the future. To this come with the seriousness of our discussion end a better application of library methods that he promised to lend what practical edi- is needed and closer understanding of the torial assistance is possible during the com- work of all so-called research people. Mr. ing year to any project our group may work Niles especially stressed the importance of li- out as the necessary beginning of more and brarian~becoming more actively interested in better indexing. trade groups also in affiliated groups such as Our second program was given over to Mrs. the American Statistical Association. Bevan's discussion of "Methods of Publicity A larger membership for our group and a Used Within Insurance Libraries," and to fuller attendance at next year's meeting will Miss Keller's comments on "Insurance Classi- be the result of the Swampscott program if fications." Results achieved by individual li- the enthusiasm of our limited but optimistic braries must needs be reported another year attendants can be sustained. What we want October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBR ARIES

to work for is a sufficiently interesting and To give to insurance men themselves useful program to justify an audience and to and to men expecting to engage in the guarantee in turn a sufficiently interesting and insurance business a better mastery of important audlence that interesting and strate- its theory and practice. gic speakers may be invited to come. There is much work for the Insurance Group to do. To familiarize the public generally with insurance-often with a view to securmg from the public more intelli- Insurance Education in the United States gent legislative control over insurance By D. N. Handy, Librarian, The I~wzua)icz matters. Library Associatiotr of Boston. With the first of these objectives the col- When one speaks of "msurance educatio~~" leges have been chiefly concerned. The Uni- he may properly mean one or all of several versity of W~sconsinwas a pionecr in this things. field. Later Yalv University did some excel- There are, for example, rather well organ- lent work along similar lines. New York ized efforts to educate. University and Columbia University have had for some years well attended insurance First : Insurance men themselves-the object courses. So also has the Armour Institute in being to ensure a better and more efficient Chicago, specializing in fire insurance. But personnel in the business. it is to the Wharton School of the Universlty of Pe~lnsylvania that we are indebted, not Secolad: College students who may or may not cxpect to enter the insurance business, only for much of the p~onccringwork but for work 3 and, the only sustained and unbroken over long series of years in insurance education. Third : The public-meaning thereby every- Under the capable leadership of Dr. S. S. body outside the insurance business itself but Huebner the Wharton School has become a who presumably in one or another of life's synonym for sound training in insurance : and relationships, finds himself concerned with or a producer of educated insurance men. Also affected by insurance. it has codribuled text books which today are In this paper we will consider briefly repre- standards wherever insurance books are read. sentative efforts to "educate" in all these ways. Not long ago Professor Ralph Blanchard Few people realize the magnitude of the of Columbia Universlty found as a result of insurance business. If we consider its two widc inquiry that over seventy colleges and grand divisions (a) life insurance and (b) universities in the United States and Canada propcrty insurance we shall soon reallze that had or werc contemplating starting insurance scarcely anybody is without some immediate courses. Of college and university courses and personal concern with ~t. actually in operation about one-half had for Like other kinds of business, insurance has their object stimulating in the student "an undergone great changes in recent years. appreciat~onof the place of insurance in eco- New adaptations of the insurance principle nomic life." The others aimed to impart a have kept it abreast of the changing demands more immed~atelypractical knowledge of the of soc~ety,commerce and industry. In gen- subject. eral it has advanced steadily in complexity. Efforts to give to insurance men themselves, Specialization has been forced upon those who and to men expecting to enter the business, practice it. Scholars too, are coming to find a bctter mastcry of its theory and practice, in it a subject worthy of study and research have come largely from the business itself; Altogether many influences have joined to although quitc recently, schools of higher busi- stimulate the growing demand for instruction ness training have interested themselves in in insurance. practical insurance courses. Two types of training for insurance men Educational activities along insurance lines may be noted. The first is by associations or have roughly three objectives : groups. (a) To give to men who expect to enter The second is by insurance companies. other kinds of business, greater Insurance, broadly, falls into two classes, familarity with insurance and its viz: (a) property insurance, and (b) life functions. insurance. 296 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

In the United Slates statutory requirements establishment of similar courses in Denver and cuslon~have combined to separate abso- and in New York City and of sun~merschools lutely the two classes of business. The per- in San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles. sonnel of those cngaged in property insurance Subsequently, in co-operation with the -the chief kinds of which are fire, marine, Y.M.C.A., the National Association of Life and automobile. Fire and theft insurance-is Underwriters developed short popular courses seldom the same as that engaged in life insur- in life insurance for those who could attend ance, including, workmen's compensation, ac- only mgh: schools. Today such Y.M.C.A. cidcnt and health, etc. But both groups are night courses are being offered in many cities alilcc in hcing highly organized with many and and hundreds of men are attending them. powcrful associations, functioning for numer- Finally, the National Association procured the ous objectives. Among these objectives edu- preparation and publication of a series of life cation has not been neglected. insurance text books which is now available The Insurance Institute of America, organ- to anybody who wishes to do systematic read- ized in Philadelphia in rgog, but only last year ing in this field. incorporated in New York State for educa- Some years ago giaduates of the Carnegle tional purposes, has fostered what promises School of Life Insurance Salesmanship organ- to be an insurance training plan of far reach- 'ized themselves into the Alpha Chapter of ing benefit. Dclta Philadelphia fraternity, the membership By this plan the Institute is to admit each of which is now several hundred. year to fellowship, and associate fellowship, The University of Pittsburgh which has young men and women who have passed its taken over the courses in life insurance sales- ,examinations, and have submitted (in the case manship started at the Carnegie Institute, now -of fellowsh~ps) theses on insurance subjects offers in addition a highly specialized course acceptable to the governing board. Courses for managers and supervisors of salesmen. *of study have been carefully drafted and in The purpose of these courses, is frankly prac- the larger cities of the country lecture courses tical, having for its immediate aim the increase are being given to aid ambitious men and of life insurance sales. women from the insr~rance offices to pass The Casualty Actuarial Society was organ- examinations and to qualify for insurance ized in 1914. I& object is the "promotion of membership. . actuarial and statistical science as amlied. - to Support of the Institute will come from the problems of casualty and social insurance!' membership and examinations. Insurance com- It is a strictly professional society. It admits panies may become "corporation" or support- to grades of membership on examination. TO ing members. Several thousand students facilitate the admission of desirable and already have sat for their examinations. technically equipped members it offers period- Courses of study have been prepared for fire, ical examinations in the casually branches casualty, marine and surety insurance. The only. It has drafted a course of study and secretary of the Institute is Mr. E. R. Hardy, recommends prescribed courses of reading to assistant manager of the New York Fire In- those wishing to fit themselves for member- surancc Exchange. The secretary's office is ship. at 123 William Street, New York. The American Institute of Actuaries, or- Another far reaching associational activity ganized in ~gogalso holds, annually in April, aims to create a higher type of life insurance examinations in actuarial science, especially salesman. In 1915 the National Association as applied LO life insurance. As many as one of Life Underwriters appointed a Committee hundred and fifty students sometimes sit at on Life Insurance Salesmanship. Four years it's examinations, which are strictly profes- later as a result of its work, the Carnegie In- sional in character. stitute of Technology, in Pittsburgh, offered One might dmover other associational ac- a course in life insurance salesmanship. The tivities looking to the better training of insur- course aimed to teach the theory of salesman- ance men and women; but these undoubtedly ship, at the same time that it provided an op- are representative. portunity for applying it in actual selling. Coming to the insurance companies one Also it emphasized the need of a thorough thinks first of The Travelers' of Hartford understanding of life insurance principles on whose training of employees began many years the part of those who were to sell life insur- ago. Now it's schoql is regularly training ance. The success of this course led to the practically all of its field men and managers. October, 1925 SPECIAL L,IBRARIES

No salesman can represent this company until The Underwriters' Laboratories, through its he has cotnpleted its courses of study. Life standards, fire tcsts, and labelling service, has companies have talcen up the task of educating been au educative force of the highest value, their e~nployccsin schools under their own 'the entile community bemg wlscr for ~tswork. control. Fire insurance companies have been Many of the great safety campaigns have slow to imitate this melhod: but more tha~l had powerful co-operation from casualty com- sixty life insurance companies arc now- at- panies. Some pf the most productive efforts tempting some kind of educational work for at health education have been fostered by life the better training of their staffs. insurance companies. Education of the public is done usually by I have not tried to make this paper exhaus- large associations Through its Actuarial tiye, but am satisfied if it has indicated to you, Burcau the National Board of Fire Under- and especially to our associates outside of the writen is distributing to the public quantities insurance field, somewhat of the scope and of lruslworthy facts on fires, their extent and purpose of these insurance educational activi- causes. Through committees it is educating ties in the United States. buildcrs, architects, engineers, municipal fire fighting departments and others in the facts NOTE-It is to be regrcttcd thal hlr Niles of fire prevention. In similar fashion The excellent address cannot be printed in these National Fire Protection Association, founded proceedings. We hope that some future issue by fire insurance companies, but no longer of SPECIALLIBRARIES will contain an article by chiefly an association of fire underwriters, has the well informed manager of the Life In- for years taught fire prevention to the whole surance Sales Research Jureau.-E~~~o~. community.

Newspaper Group Chairman, Joseph F. Kwapil, Librarian. Public Ledger, Philadelphia

Annual Report, 1925 bringing the total of membership up to twenty- four comparing with eight the year before. The Newspaper Group elected the follow- ing officers: William Alcott, Boston Globe, The group also applied for recognition as such in Special Libraries Association. Within chairman ; John H. Miller, King Features a few days the Commercial Department of Syndicatc, vice-chairman; Miss Agnes J. the has sent out a ques- Petersen, Milwaukee Journal, secretary ; New York Times tionnaire to newspaper librarians and others Maurice Symonds, New York Daily News, treasurer ; Joseph I?. Kwapil, Philadelphia Pub- asking for an opinion for the monthly issue of the index. chairman executive committee. lic Ledger, A. J. PETERSEN. Committee chairman were appointed as fol- lows : Ethical Standards, Paul P. Foster, BOX- Meetings ton IJerald; Program, Wilbur F. Coyle, Bal- timore Sw, Membershid, John H. Miller ; Symposium: "Filing Systems for Newspaper Methods, Joseph F. Kwapil Clippings Since the meeting in Saratoga, 1924, the Newspaper Group has busied itself along two The Dewey System lines, first to make the group known to the By Alice Nichols Lundberg, Evening Express, newspaper librarians of the country, and sec- Portland, Me. ondly to secure, if possible, a more convenient issue of the New York Times Index. The In opening the discussion of indexing clip- group co-operated with the Membership Com- pings with the good points of the Dewey sys- mittee of Special Libraries Association and tem, which like politics and religion was a the story of organizing the Newspaper Group legacy to me, I will explain that in the library was mailed to five hundred and fifty news- of the Portland Express-Advertiser and Sun- paper librarians and managing editors. day Telegram, the clippings are indexed sepa- The group received sixteen new members rately from all other material in the room. 198 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

The paper is indexed every day with a card All these features I have found embodied system, the cuts are filed in a separate place in the abridged decimal classification by Mel- with an index, and the pictures are placed vil Dewey, director of the New York State in drawers es~eciallvfitted for them and are Library and Library School, and have dem- indexed with a separate index. onstrated to my own satisfaction that the sys- The. clippings are placed in manilh envel- tem is practical, a time saver, accurate, easily opes, legal size, ungummed, . and deposited understood and perfectly suited to indexing numerically by subject number, lengthwise, in newspaper clippings as well as other material Shaw Walker drawers. in any library. Newspaper libraries are not unlike public libraries, especially if the paper features this 11. department as an additional service to the public. Dictionary System The orderly arrangement of the ten classi- By Agnes P. Petersen, librarian, Milwazlkcc fications used in indexing by the Dewey sys-, Journal. tem, namely: general works, philosophy, reli- gion, sociology, philology, natural science, use- When the Journal moved into its new build- ful arts, fine arts, literature, and history, each ing in October, 1924,the librarian found that being given a subject number beginning with an enterprising builder, knowing a little of o and cnding with w, starts at the beginning newspaper tradition, had put that hoary old and carries one through the various stages of legend, "The Morgue," in gold letters on the research to history which is the final subject quarters set apart for her. Shc lost no time General works are numbered o, philosophy in getting the business manager on the tele- 100, religion 200 and so on through the list phone and before the day has over those gold of each major number having ten subdivisions letters read, "The Library." The Jozwtzal's or more if the library requires such an ex- department of information had long since tensive system. This elasticity of expansion passed out of "the morgue" stage and away is a telling point in favor of the system. from the newspaper history that made morgue a fitting title. Behind that transition in the Jourtial plant Uniformity is a story. The Journal's efforts at collecting Uniformity is another important factor in information, records and materials in one de- indexing and a great time saver With the partment began years ago when the city edi- Dewey system if- one wishes to obtain infor- tor found that the old table set against the mation on any particular matter, all the ma- wall of the news room on which he kept cuts terisl on thc subject in question will be found and photographs was getting too small. So a under one subject number. This saves much cubbyhole was sought and a worker put in time to the person familiar with the library in charge. She had some files and made some using a card index. attempt at classification. But she had no li- Accuracy is a point in favor of the Dewey brary training. Then the editorial writers, system. The subject number is always the seeing her with spare lnomcnts on her hands, samc and it is impossible, if any sort of care began to call on her for information. So she is used, to file clippings incorrectly for the got a few reference books. And the ncws subject and filmg numbers are given in detail writers began to call on her for previous ac- in the index. counts of persons who bobbed up in the news. So she began to file a few clippings. Completeness In 1914the war came and the Journal found Completeness is an important factor in fil- itself involved in a battle against certain kinds ing clippings because of the fact that news- of propaganda that has had few parallels in papers cover such a wide range of subjects journalism and which won for it in 1918 the in the news of the day. One must be able Pulitzer medal for meritorious service. That to file clippings in such detail that no subject battle stretched over years, and it involved of no matter how great or small impor- a vast amount of research and reference. The tance will be submerged, but shall be indexed one worker was swamped, so a trained libra- so that it may be available at a moment's rian was hired. She brought a measure of or- notice. der out of chaos and did much filing. In four October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES years the Journal's library had assumed con- Wash~ngton,George (person) would precede siderable.proportions but it has a library of Washington, D C. (place), followed in turn war propaganda probably the best of its kind by Washington elm (subject). in the United States but certainly not a library Since the aim of the library is to serve all to serve the widest needs of a newspaper. departments, cuts, mats and photos of par- The present librarian took charge shortly ticular value in the promotion and advertising aftcr thc armistice, to find herself with a war departments are filed also. library on her hands and days of peace ahead. Cli~plngsare filed in hght weight manilla But she had one valuable asset. The work cnvelopes, slxe 4 x 6, alphabetically, accord- of those year\s had shown that the most price- ing to the person, place, subject and form less part of a newspaper plant is its accumu- method. Much of the subject material is filed lation of information and materials. If the in the 9% x 12 manilla envelopes Cross presses were wrecked new ones could be reference cards are used whenever necessary. bought. If the editorial force quit in a body, Confronted with demands from all depart- a ncw force could be hired tomorrow. But ~f ments of the Jownal and calls both by person the library, the work of years, were destroycd, and by phone from the public-the Jowgzal II- it could not be replaced except through more brary has always regarded service to the pub- years of work. lic as part of its work-for peace time ma- Thus today thc news departmenl, editorial terial, the librarian had to build up her files staff, feature and exchange department are very carefully yet swiftly. Here the splcndid grouped about the library on thc fourth floor co-operation of the news department, the ex- of the Jozmial's building, as though in rccog- change department and the ediiorial staff ms nition of thc fact that the library is very greatly appreciatcd. These departme~itsmust near the heart of a newspaper insiiiution Edi- bear in mind the value of filing important torially il is thc heart. For news it is no material they collect just as the librarian longer a hit and miss thing. It consists of a must ever bear in mind the news value and "tip" or an idea and then the building up oE the editorial and feature value of clipping. a story through accurate information and How great a difference there may be be- checking until a well-rounded article is cre- tween a newsman's pomt of view and that of atcd, containing full information for the a publ~clibrarian may best be illustrated by readers. That kind of product cannot be a little story. A librarian, when ready to turned out without the aid of a modern news- make new labels for the files of newspapers, paper library. asked an editorial writer whether the terms The Joz~rrznl library contains books, maga- "Current blonth" and "Previous Month" zincs, pamphlets, photographs, cuts, mats, and woulcl be best, whercupon he exploded with, clippings. Books and pamphlets are classified "Hell no I ! Mark 'em 'This Month' and 'Last according to the Dewey Decimal syslem. Clip- Month."' Big words didn't mean anything pings, cuts and photographs are filed alpha- to him, or words con~monlyaccepted in library betically in wood cabinets. classification. He wanted just the words he would use whcn he came in and called for Cuts, mats and photographs are filed alpha- those files. This is mportant-to get and betically in 5% x 8 manilla envelopes, photos keep the newspaper man's pomt of view in in a separate envelope preceding the envelope so far as can be clone consistently with wisc of ~utsand mats of the same name or subjcct. library classificat~on. Pcrsonal photos, cuts and mats too large for the 5% x 8 drawers are filed in manilla envel- Such has becn the growth of the library sincc ihe signing of the armistice, when only opes in the 9% x 12 drawers, with cross refer- cnce cards to thc 5% x 8 drawers icdicatinq 43 per cent, of the calls could be answered wh~ethe material may be found. Here again for thc peace time requests, that today, in its the rule holds for filing the cnvelope contain- new quarters with adequate facilities for ing photos in front of the cut and mat envel- taking care of the material, the percentage ope of the samc name. All subject matter, is 96. whether cut, mat or photo, is filed in the 9% Interesting records have been kept showing x 12 drawers. The filing follows the alpha- the growth of the library, and the number of bet~cal rule of the library method of filing demands upon it. November, 1924, showed as to person, place, subject, and form. Thus fifteen hundred and forty calls, four hundred where names are the same, as for example, and sixty-two from the public for information. SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 19ag

geographical unit in the clippings file, the guides under the subject of the United States, The Classified Index System we will take for example the army-the sub- B:\I Joseph F. Kzuapil, libmrian, Pfiblic Ledger, jects run thus: ambulance corps, artillery, Philndelphia. aviat~on,cantonments, cavalry, chemical war- fare, commissary, conscription, court martials, I am going to try and tell you about the cruelty, deserters, enginecrs, iniantry,Ynsignia, Pxblic Lcdgcr library system, its methods, its Jcws, mcdical corps, national guards, negroes, aims, and its accomplishments. The Public ordnance departments, pay, quartermaster, re- Lrdgrr system IS broader in scope of activities cruiting, regiments, signal corps, transport, than Lhal of any other paper brought to my uniforms. attcnllon, These subdivisions are designated by guides, Its department conssting of clippings, and each of these is subdivided according to photographs, cuts, negatives, news index, !i- material, and in some cases into as many as brary, bound files, advertising drawings, ex- twcnty smaller divisions. changes, and the public service information The cllvisions of second importance, st~chas burcau. cabinet, courts, diplo~natic service, finances, The department is made to serve the Public and so on, are arranged alphabetically until Ledger, Eve~zing Ledger, Szrn, New York the ahole range of the alphabet is covered. Evcriir~g Post, and the three Curtis magazine In the case of the United States, the states publicat~ons. In regard to the Evening Post are next arranged according to alphabet, the library department, the two departments are subjects for a state, such as state depart- run as one, and are kept in Constant communi- ments, legislature, highways, finances, and so cation by the mcans of d~recttelephone con- forth on down the alphabet. The cities are nection then arranged according to alphabetical order, This department gives continuous servlce and these are again subdivided according to evcry hour ol the day, every day in the year, material. Thc sub-guides under cities run its task never ceases. In the classified system, something like this : apartments, buildings, the material is divided into three grand divi- churches, clubs, fires, fire departments, gas, sions, biographical, geographical and general. history, etc., until the alphabet is completed. This applies to the clippings, photographs, In regard to such subjects as churches, cuts and negatives. The clippings and photo- clubs, schools, individual envelopes are given graphs are filed direcLIy, rather than by card to each, and these are arranged alphabetically. index, but the cuts and negatives are card cata- When there are many under such a division, loged. The system compares to that of a city A B C guides are inserted to break them up. directory. It first segregates the personal, and This same arrangement applies to any country the balance of the material is classified ac- or c~tyin the world. Sub-divisions being made cording to subjects, into geographical and according to the amount of material. The gencral. advantages of this arrangement are many. The geographical division material is divided First of all, one can go to his file exactly the according to countries, arranged strictly in samc as he would go to a globe or atlas and alphabctical order. Thus: Canada is filed place his pencil on any point of the map. The under Canada, not under Great Britain, Ireland material on that particular place, whether it under Ircland, Porto Rico under Porto Rico, be city, country, or island, is all together, and etc., regardless of the possession. Guides per- he knows exactly the kind and the amount of form a very important function in the classi- material on that particular point. When there fied system, using color for the different divi- is a similarity of names, in institution, cities sions, average one every two inches, thus, and so forth, confusion is avoided. The filing it is almosl always possible instantly to locate of this material geographically, rather that the subject wanted, either when filing, or look- according to dictionary system, insures more ing up material. Plenty of guides also insure accuracy in filing also, eliminating the possi- a higher degree of accuracy. The latest angu- bilities of giving out the wrong material, lar guides give great visibility to the lower with a similar name. drawers, and in my opinion are the biggest The subject file relates to matkrial that advance that has bcen made in guide cards in can't be filed according to geographical loca- tlie last twenty years. tion. I have selected a few classifications in To give some idea of classifications in the the "A" section to give you a general ~deaof October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 30 1 the type of material filed in this division. and evening Public Ledgers. This index keeps Thus : abdications, absin thc, accidents, acety- an accurate record of the contents of the lines, accchis, acrobats, actors, equity, asso- paper daily, designating the month, day, edi- ciation, adding machines, adenoids, advert~sing, tion, page and column, where every story ap etc. Thcse, loo, are divided according to mate-. peared. This solves the difficulty of clipping rial on each subject. This standard of classi- and filing a lot of doubtful material of only fication is used throughout, whether it be clip- tcmporary value, and which in a few months pings, photographs or negatives. Of course, clutters up the clipping files, depreciating the the material in different divisions varies but value of the material that is worth-while. the method of approach is &actly the same in These records are typewritten on a special cvcry case. rul'ed sheet about 10 x 14 inches in dimension. For the clipping files a 6 x 4 double drawer At the end of the year they are removed from unit is used. A thin but tough envelope has the file and bound in loose leaf binder which been found serviceable. A saving of space serves as a permanent record to the bound of twelve inches on every thousand envelopes files. All five editions of the Evening Public compared to the heavier manilla envelope in Ledger are indexed daily, and I believe we are use by some of the other newspaper libraries, [he only newspaper in the United States doing is a good point in its favor. this. A fivc thousand division guide is used in the In the Public Ledger library ten people are biographical division and three thousand now employed in three shifts. Three are guides are uscd in each of the subject and employed on the clippings, three on the cuts geographical divisions. and photographs, one on negatives, advertising, drawings, and two on the indexing of the The photograph file has the standard 10x 12 mornmg and evening Public Ledgers. One on four drawcr vertical unit. The photographs public serwcc information and the library and are segregated into three divisions exactly as the boy who sorts the mail, gets bound files the clippings. They are stripped from the for the visitors, keeps the papers on the file, mountings and all surplus material, to keep etc. down the bulk. This file also has the same When filling vacancies in the departments, it numbcr of guides as the clipping files. is the custom to work from the bottom. Begin- The cuts, are cataloged according to size, ners, generally high school graduates, are one, two, and three columns. A 3 x 5 double engaged on an apprenticeship basis. As a rule drawcr vertical cabinet is uscd for the one the pay starts at $10 a week, and at the end colunin. The capacity is about four thousand of six months he is advanced to $12 provided cuts to a unit. The two column cuts are filed his work has hcen satisfactory. His work is in 5 x 8 doublc drawer units, with a capacity laid out in such a way, so that at the end of of about twenty-four hundred cuts to a sec- five years he has had every opportunity to tion. The threc column cuts are filed in 10 x learn every phase of newspaper library work. 12 units. The object in using the different In case someone leaves the staff, all those be- units for the cuts is to save floor space. The neath are advanced a step forward and a new proportion of the onc column cuts to the two apprentice is engaged at the bottom rung of is about ten to one. This would rcduce the the ladder. This system has worked out most floor arca occupicd about half. When one satisfactor~ly, the labor turnover has been considers there are about one hundred thou- very low. We have several workers, that have sand units, it is a factor worth considering. beell wit11 the department almost from its be- The ncgatives are handled almost in the ginning. same fashion as the cuts. A 5 x 8 double drawer unit is used, by having three parti- IV. tions instead of one it is possible to have four The New York World System rows of 4 x j negatives to a drawer and thus the capac~tyof a unit is about two thousand By Jnirles W Wells of the New York World.' negatives. At present we have on file about The New York World has always had two eighty thousand negatives, carefully card cata- classes of clippings-biographical and miscel- loged, and cross indexed. laneous. The biographical (which ohpies The news index is kept of both the morning about two-thirds of the shelf space) is kept - See artlcle by same author, Special Libraries, April, rgas. p. rao. 302 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925 in strict alphabetical order; the miscellaneous each night and the biographical filed from is kept according to groups, divisions and sec- A to Z in from one to three weeks. tions. Why "Morgue"? This system of keeping miscellaneous sub- jects is a growth from a nucleus of seven There are at least a dozen names for the groups : Play, Cr~me,Knowledge, Place, Gov- place where newspaper clippings are kept. I ernment, Conveyance, Raising-selling, and an d~videthem as- added miscellaneous or general place for keep- The six that are bad: obituary, morgue, ing (~nalphabetical order) subjects not readily boneyard, cemetery, scraparium, graveyard. classified under the other seven groups. The six that are good: biographical depart- ment, reference department, clipping bureau, Except lor being larger, the system IS just about the same as 11 was thirty-six years ago; information bureau, library; I. D. (intelligence only two changes have been made. The first departn~cnt), London Times. change was to put in the biographical class the After thirty years of experience in this work am against using the term "morgue," dead persons that had been kept in a scparate I be- cause of its effect on- a1phxl)etical file ; the second was to takc out of thc n~isccllar~eousclass what propcrly be- I. The management: place for has-beens, anyone can run it; equipment. 1nn:rcl in the biographical. In the very early years d~vorcecases were filed under Divorce 2. F'eoplc outside the department: look which made it necessary to know the specific down on the job, making the contact other happening Lo a person, whether lorgery, mur- than that oi co-operation. der, accident, etc 3. The force in department: see and feel This was changed to make the person, not the attitude of I and 2. thc subject or happening, the important classi- 4, Your own work: making a living; job fication. To get down to bed-rock, keeping as good as another; why look down on it?; a record of a person, man or woman, is the why not look up? main reason for having a newspaper rcference v. department. At least that is the idea we have; The Numeric System and the Photo we refer to it as the working department, not Library a dcpartmerit of record. Likewise, we iollow the same idea with the By John H. Miller, librarian, k'irtg Features miscellaneous subjects: to build up a record Syndicate. of any separate identity or thing-the Chesa- I am glad to avail myself of this opportunity peake and Ohio Railroad, the dirigible Shen- to talk about the numeric system of filing. andoah, the National City Bank, birth control, In doing so, however, I am not defending the daylight saving, and so forth. numeric system against those about which you 7'11~ 1Vorld biographical department is have .already heard I will merely give you unique in having bcen running continuously, an outline of my experience of nearly twenty day and night, for thirty-six years; in having years with the numerlc system which has stood up under much criticism; in having kept given better results for my particular kind of going after investigations and surveys were work than any other system I know of. made with the intention of changing the sys- As librarian of the King Features Syndicate, tem. which includes the facilities for International Most of thc criticism was made because we Feature Service and Newspaper Feature Serv- had too much material, not because we did ice, my work has to do chiefly with the ilIus- not have enough. stration of the Sunday Magazine pages pro- Perhaps the reason why it has continued, duced by these syndicates. and will continue, is because we have the stuff It is a matter of thoroughness rather than that is called for. We had 13,@4 real, honest- of speed in obtaining photographs for use to-goodness calls in 1924, and answered twelve in these pages so that when pictures are placed out of every thirteen of them; about go per in the hands of the editor he is assured that cent of the calls were for biographical. he has the best available photographic ma- We save every story in the paper, no matter terial on the subject as regards good illustra- how mall, or who or what it is about. We tion and good reproduction copy. cut more than three hundred and twenty-six And being thorough, it necessar~ly follows thousand separate clippings last year. We that the indexing of photographs must be done keep up-to-date : yesterday's clippings are completely, and one must not be content with available tonight. the miscellaneous being filed merely filing a person's photograph under the October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES name of that person because commonly the photograph for you." He forgets that it is person's name is of the least importance. It his job to provide service, not to seek service. 1s what the photograph illustrates that counls A porlrait of a beautiful woman means That is why you will often see displayed on much more to me than her name. She may a page a photograph which actually has noth- have a beautiful back, pretty eyes, blond hair, mg to do with the story but is published be- perfect teeth, shapely limbs, a fascinating cause it is a striking photograph and illustrates smile, etc. All these things interest me and a ccrtain point in the story. I would be neglecting my duty if I failed to A photograph' should be read just as care- make out a card for each of these respective fully as you would read your morning paper, headings. I do not mean to say that every beginning at the left hand side of the print and woman's photograph should be cross-indexed finishing at the right hand side. After carefully in this manner. Every woman is not beautiful noting points of mterest in the photograph it and every photograph is not perfect. should be indexed under those respective head- You can readily understand why I have ings so that when an editor makes a request chosen thc numerlc system which, among other for photographs, no matter how odd that re- advantages, allows me to manipulate 3 x 5 quest may be, the records will show exactly typcwrittcn cards rather than legal-sized cn- what is available and there is no resorting to velopes which would have to be handwritten the memory to try to find out what you may Where five entries are necessary five cards arc or may not have. And there lies the answer to made out; but under an alphabetical system the question, "Why the numeric system?" that five envelopes would have to be made out, has often been asked of me. four of which would be cmpty Then, too, Cross-indexing is the secret of the success the numeric system allows one to file a per- &ofany well-organized library and I think that son's photograph under his or her name and the numeric system Lakes care of cross-index- at the same time place the photograph in an ing problems nore efficiently than any other envelope containing a subject to which it system. Unfor~unatcly,many of us, in fact properly belongs. For instance, John Jones all of us, think too lightly of it and if I can is a parachute jumper. convince you that you should do more cross- A studio photograph of Jones, under my indexing then I have accomplished one pur- system, would be filed in the envelope on pose of this little talk. parachute jumping with a card made out under I have heard it said that one would never hls name, since we are only interested in this get through should cross-indexing be adopted, particular John Jories because he is a para- but you will find that the extra effort will chute jumper even though the photograph filed more than ..epay you in the long run just as is a portrait. modern equipment, expensive at the start, Fifty photographs of women doctors are more than pays for itself the longer you have filed In an envelope on "Women Doctors," a it. If you will think seriously of cross-index- card being made out for each person's name ing and act with judgment you will find that it and referring to the envelope on "Women will be instrumental in lifting newspaper li- Doctors." Under an alphabetical system I brary work out of the file clerk class which would be obliged to file each of these photo- is one of the things we are trying to accom- graphs under the name of the person and plish and for which we are assembled here cross-index under "Women Doctors," which today. would be impractical for our purpose. The Cross-indexing requires good judgment and latter operation would also require the use of experience, and likc everything else, can be fifty envelopes and six inches of filing space. overdone causing a waste of time and effort. The numeric system would use one envelope, A daily newspaper library, perhaps, does not two inches of filing space and fifty 3 x 5 type- require the extensive crk-indexing neces- written cards, showing a saving of fore-nine sary to feature work, but, as already stated, envelopes, four inches of filing space, at the most librarians could do more of it than they same time keeping the photographs together ,do now. so that they could be given out at a moment's notice. Must Provide Serivcc To get back to the numeric system, a person It is a common occurrence to have a libra- of prominence is given one envelope. Where rian say, "If you will give me the name in the thcre is only one photograph of a person or case, I will be able to locate the clipping or a good halftone, it is placed in an envelope 304 SPECIAL LIBRARIES Octqber, 1925

with ten or twelve photographs of persons of few enlightened persons, no doubt seems the whom there is also but one photograph in the least desirable job on earth. And to read it, files. In this way there is a saving of from for reading's sake-that would indeed be the nine to eleven envelopes and at least one inch pastime of an eccentric. of iiling space. As the photographs in such In the fifteenth century, so we are told by an envelope accumulate, the envelope is again A. W. Pollard in an article in the Living Age, revised, certain of the photographs such as an indes was supposcd to be read and studied, duplicates, prints of the deceased, damaged not tnerely consulted in a hurry for a single prints, etc., are thrown away. Should a per- entry, and its alphabetical form was devised son whose photographs were formerly filed in to facilitate subsequent releretlce by those such an envelope suddenly spring into prom- who had first duly perused it from beginning inence, causing several photographs to be re- to end. Thc entries, in fad, were just the old ceived, that person's photographs are given entries of the table of contents shuffled into an entirely new and separate envelope. alphabetical sequence without any great efToit In this way an opportunity is furnished for to begin with the correct word. Arlicles "the" gradual killing-off and continual revision, and and "a," prepositions "against," "upon," etc., this constitutes one of the hest methods of were legitimate key-words. keeping the department within bounds. The index was really an epitome of the Each photograph bears a number corre- whole book arranged in alphabetical order. sponding to the envelope in which it is to be But indexcs came to be skitmned as reviews filed. Numbers corresponding to the various are skimmed now, either to gain an idea as subjects are soon committed to memory, to whether a book is worth reading or to pick makmg ~t unnecessary, many times, to refer up enough information about its contents to to the mdex cards, which are numbered prac- be able to talk about it without thc pain of tically the same as the Dewey system without perusal. "Index learning" of this kind got the decimal point. much scoffing. Four groups of cards are filed, namely: These early indexes were usually called Personalities, Geographic, Miscellaneous and "registers" or "tables," for although the word Art. The art section has two divisions, one "index" was used for a table of contents as contaming the artists' cards which list under early as 1398 and in 1578 was used in the each artist's name any of his paintings that sense in which we now think of it, it did not may be on file. The second division contains come into general usc until the seventeenth the titles and subjects of paintings on file. century. They were made largely for religious An envelopc is preferred to a folder. because and historical works. Many peculiar entries the person filing is obliged to pull out the seem to have been inspircd by the more re- emelope far enough to make absolutely sure markable paragraphs of the text, and set forth it is the proper envelope, thus eliminating any the attractions of these with a broad journal- risk of misfiling. A legal-sized envelope is istic touch which comes with an amusing sur- used, owing to the number of large photo- prise in their sober surroundings. graphs publ~shed. Neeaspaper Indexes Symposium Let us come now specifically to the subject The Newspaper Index of newspaper indexes. Roughly, we may divide these into two great classes-indexes I. that are made for use w~tlunthc office of a The New York Times specific newspaper, and published newspaper By Jennie Welland, editor of the New York indexes which are distributed throughout one Times Index. or more countries. The first class may again be divided into The word newspaper stands for what 1s two kinds-clipping files and typed or written probably the most vital, most interesting pub- indexes. To trace the origin of these tws lication 01 the day, both to those who read forms would be an interesting study in itself, it and to those who make it. But the word for there seem to be merry attempts on the "indexu-do you not picture to yourself just part of several sections of the country to claim about the most unattractive thing that issues the distinction of being the pioneer in the from our presses? To make it, except to a field. October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 305

For instance, in an article in the San Fralz- cowrlng the period from 18j1 to 18j8, thus cz'sco Chroiticle on John P. Young's book, antctlat~ngthe published index, which began Joz~rinlis~n in California, we read, as part of In ISGO. Tliere was a morgue in the office of an account oi the opening of the Chronicle's the 'I'zilws dul ing the administration of Henry new building in 1879, when the paper was J. Raymond, who died in 1869. fifleen years old: Howevcr indistinct may bc the outl~ncsof "Sor did any observer on that opening the history of the newspaper index, however, day sce in the three hundred tin boxes in thcrc is no haziness conceruing thc situation pigcon holes along the blank wall of a as ~t exists today. It is unlikely that any narrow loom what was doubtless the germ newspaper in the country is without its of the indcx card system, and of the verti- morgue, however crude, and the leading papers have long since recognized the inest~mable cal file now in such general use. A few value of a properly organ~zedindex system. papers OF the cast had ~nauyratcdthe Many papers, as hardly need to tell this practice of preserving information con- I cerning individuals, the outcome of which group, combine both clipping files and typed index systems, entries being typed in some is known in newspaper offices as the offices on cards and in others on large-sized morgue, and some had thought it wort11 paper to form a large volume, sometimes their whllc to index the contents of their loose-leaf. papers. "Bolh of tl~cseconveniences had been In add~tionto office indexes, many news- acloptecl by the Chroilicle while quartered papers carry daily an index to the news or in the Clay Street editorial rooms, and a table of contents for the conrenience of the reader. Th~saffords the small newspaper oi- respectable array of scrip books had ac- cumulated. Much of the scrapped matter fice, which cannot afford to make all elaborate index, an opportunity to clip these indexes, being ephemeral in character, the number assign subject headings, and file them, thus of useless books increased. The resort forming an inexpensive guide to the contents to tin boxes was for the purpose of thin- of thc paper. ning out matter which appeared to be of Wlth thls skimming of the s~trfaceof the no further use. Naturally, it occurred quest~onof newspaper indexes compiled for to the librarian, and functionary such a use within the office of the paper itself, let was promptly appointed when the new me pass on to the subject of the newspaper building was occupied, to put the clippings index in published form. where hc could easily find them. England has her I;otzdorr Times Index and "This hc accomplishcd by arranging his Germany and Austria have their fortnightly hoxcs in the same fashion as the index of index of the principal art~clesin about fifty a Icdgcr, and from this beginning the German and Austrian newspapers, with an Chro~~irle'sfiling boxes came to be num- annual subject and author index to the vol- bclecl Ily the thousand. ume. "Thc late Whitelaw Reid, who was Longest Service much interested in the details of news- paper methorls, on the occasion of his In the United States the New York Tirim f requcnt visits to San Francisco, was in has given the longest servlce, with an index the habit of dropping into the Chronicle running continuously from 1860 to date, save for a break of about two years during the oflice, and invariably took a look through the library, which he compli~llented as Civil War, and another break during the years of 1905 to 1912 inclusive. the best arranged in the country, and it is on his authority that the statement is The 1Vezv York Tribune Itidex, 1875 to 1~6, is next dcserving of mcnt~on Guides pub- made that the Clzro~riclewas the first to lishccl by the and the apply the priaciplc of index card system to Brooklyn Daily Eagle NC~Oyolk Bvem~lgPost's I9lde.r were com- a newspaper office." ~nendable though short-lived. We d- Ne.zo, York Tiincs Records crme now to the ficld the co-operative index The history of the records in the office of to the leading newspapers of Michigan. the A:czu York ir'iure.r may be of interest in When the New York I'imer Index resumed this connection. The New York Times began in 1913, [he beginning of the movement in publication In 1851 and there is now among adult education, the increasing interest in cur- its treasured possessions a hand-written index rent events, fostered not only b~ the colleges 306 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5 but Ly secondary and even elementary schools ficultics arise, thc editor is consulted, but as well, by women's clubs, and in lecture halls, indcxers are expected to be guided to a certain all these had swept the modern newspaper into extent by former indexcs and to develop a a field broader than ever before. certain atnount of initiative. In the case of The cry lor a guide to the daily press had the clipping filc the department head or one become morc and more insistent. The New of his assistants 1s usually at hand to aid In York Tli~irs,by virtue of the completeness and consult~ngthe records; in the case of the pub- accuracy of its news, both of which are as- l~shecl incles thcre is no personal contact, no sured not only by ~tsconnection with the opportunity to explain. The indexer must he usual sources of information but also by the able to visual~ze the pomts of view of all uni~s~iallylarge numbcr of its own corres- types- - of workers who consult the intlcs in his pondcnts in all fields, by virti~e,too, of its sclection of a heading. prcstige and its nation-wide and foreign cir- Confronted with what becomcs an unmistak- culation, is pre-eminently the paper best fittcd able demand for a change in heading, the In- to issue an index. dexer must do so, always taking the precau- Briefly, the New Yavk Times Index is so tion, however, to insert a cross-reference from coml~ileilthat its general uses are four-fold- the old heading to the new, and an explana- tory note under the new heading to indicate I The obvious use-to trace the account where the material may be found previous of a specific eyerit as recorded in the New in indexes. York ?'tiiie~. The problem of summaries is another one 2. To serve as a side to articles in all which is peculiar to the published index as papers, local, national, and'foreign, since im- distinct from the clipping files. Having read portant events arc recorded in practically all the article, the indexer, in addition to deciding papers and news periodicals simultaneously. on her subject heading, must select the out- 3. To give the information desired without standing points and express them clearly and recourse to newspaper files. In most cases concisely. Here, too, she must bear in mind items are indexed with summaries which are that hcr work goes out to the world at large in themselves the answers to questions raised. in cold type. Accuracy is of primary impor- 4. To serve as an index to dates. tance. Good judgment and an adequate com- Since the work of compiling a published in- mand of the English language are indispens- dex is so different from that of organizing able. Headlines are helpful, and so are the and maintaining a clipping file, it may be of summaries which usually form the first few interest to know how the editorial department sentences of a newspaper story, but care is A pub- of the New York Tinres Inder is organized taken not to depend Qn these alone. and how it functions. lished newspaper index with no digest would obviously be of little value. Articlcs on the The ed~torialstaff is composed of eight per- same case appear day after day, sometimes sons-the editor, a first assistant to the editor, year after year. A certain amount of sum- five indexers, and a junior assistant. marizing is necessary to identify the specific As in the news department, certain writers phase of the situation that is treated each day. are held responsible for following up assigned Each worker, as she finishes her assigned stories, so on the Indcx staff each indexer is topics, checks off thc articles she has covered responsible lor all articles on assigned sub- on the "oflicial" copy of the paper, uslng her jects. For instance, one person takes care of initial as a check mark. all articles on the League of Nations, another When every indexer has finished her sub- taxat~on,another education, and so on. jects, there always remain some miscellan- Subjects headings are assigned by the editor eous articles not in any specifically assigned when the worker is inexperienced or when field. The editor, therefore, goes over the a new subject whose heading is not obvious official copy of the paper and distributes these presents itself. The editor does not mark articles among the staff, bearing in mind the every subject heading for every article in varying abilities and experience of the in- each day's paper. When an indexer has dexers and the quantity and complexity of handled a subject for a short period of time their regularly assigned subjects, trying to ar- she becomes familiar with the headings that rive at a relatively even distribution of the cover it, and it would be a waste of time for work. The articles so assigned are marked thc cdltor to mark each article. When dif- in red pencil with the initial of the indexer, October, 1915 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 307

subject headings are designated if necessary, In spite of the fact that the Union is be- and the "official" copy, thus marked, goes back coming a metropolitan ncwspaper, news of to the indexers until each in turn has cleared local interest is emphasized in the index. up the miscellaneous articles that are marked The newspaper library must serve the re- for her. It is then returned to the editor for porlers, the editorial writers and the public. a final chccking up and discarded. It must also serve the school boy and girl Index entries arc typed on thin white slips who just naturally migrate to the local news- two inches by five inches. These slips are paper ofice to prepare their current events collected from the indexers every day by the assignment Yet it must bc condensed, it junior assistant, who throws them into a pre- must be simplified ILmust be done in the liminary alphabet preparatory to editing by short space of time which other work allows the editor in charge. the librarian to devote to it. Upon the ed~tor,who edits as she files, rests In accordance with this policy of brevity all the responsibility of welding the component international news is arranged under such parts into an harmonious whole. Uniformity general headmgs as European Affairs, China, of subject headings, accuracy, explicit sum- Japan, Lcaguc of Nations, Arms Conference, maries of articles, and a proper allotment of Foreign Tradc and Foreign Relations. In space in the Index on the basis of relative im- addition to all the countries included in the parlance of subject matter are particularly de- continent of Europe I put England under the pendent on her supervision. Cards are ar- general heading, European Affairs. If a per- langed in dictionary style, with careful indica- sonage of any country dies, assumes or resigns tions of types and indentions to be used to office or docs anylhing of importance it is distinguish between main headings and sul~ also listed under the name divisions. I do not find cross-indexing to any great On the night of the last day of the quarter, extent very practical as on the Unron; [he the first of the copy is sent to the composing staff of the tno~ningedition must dcpend on room. This consists of the first few letters the index alone, there being no librarian avail- of the alphabet, followed by later letters until able at that t~me Reporters and editortal the last of approximatejy sixty thousand cards writcrs are generally pressed for time and I have been sent. Next comes the reading of have found it much more convenient to index the proof. the same article under two or three different headings. Each year and each month brings some new interest, some new subject before the public and consequently a new problem for the news- The Springfield Union paper librarian. The year 1920 brought pro- By Miss Ewalynn E. Pine, Izbraria~t,Sprbtp- hibition. It has occupied the public's thought field Ui~ion. and attention constantly since then and has taken a prominent place in the news of the The index of the Springfield (Mass.) Uniort day and in the index of the newspaper. I use was started in 1912. It covers the morning the general heading "Prohibition," making and Sunday cdit~onsand the editorials of the two subdivisions-"Arrests" and "Raids!' evening edition. In get~eral, the index fol- The divisions practically cover the local end lows the same plan that was originally adopted of the subject and is of great value to the although improvements havc been made. reporters covering courts as they must often The index is kept alphabetically on 5 x 8 refer to the original account of the raids in cards. All items under each subject heading writing of the cases as they follow their prose- are in chronological order. cution through the courts. At the end of the year the complete file of Another subject which is ever of vital in- cards is copied on sheets of typewriting paper terest to the general public is politics, and and bound into book form. A carbon copy is conneyted with politics are the numberless made which is also bound and given to the political clubs, to whose number woman suf- public library for use there and as a precau- frage has contributed greatly. I find it best tionary measure. Doing it in spare time, to list the political clubs under the name of which is very limited, the typing takes at least each club, s~~chas Democratic City Committee, six months. Printing or the new system of Republican Club, Women's Civic Club, etc. photographing the cards are to be preferred. Political news is llsted under the general 308 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1935 heading, "Political Notes," with three sub- realize that there is a method of indexing. divisions, namely, "Local," "National" and As it is hardly feasible or possible to conduct "State," the items under each being in chrono- a regular course for staff members on the logical order. In the case of the campaign fundamentals of newspaper indexing, I have for important offices, such as president, gov- found it very helpful to place over the indc% ernor, senator, I also index under the name a list of general subject headings which arc of the person running for cach office. used in Lhe index. Sports are distinguished by a guide card I often wonder why people take such ~II of a particular color printed with the word interest in unusual or trivial items of news. "Sports." Under this general division each And why do they never clip thesc articles or sport is given a separate card arranged in keep the date in mind and only realize how alphabetical order. necessary it is that they have the article two In indexing news from other cities and or three months after it is printed. Of aucb towns I attempt to bring together under the a nature is the news item to the cffect, that name of each town or city all items of a gen- Gim Gong, the Chinese Luther Burbanlc, lclt e-a1 nature. In many instances, I find it bet- a bequest to the North Adams church. More ter to consider the town as secondary and to requests come in for an article of this nature list the time under a more general heading. than for the account of the earthquake which This is true in the case of accidents, robberies, recently shook the east or the eclipse of the wrecks, raids, ctc., where I list the items under sun. the cities or town in which they occur in A source of trouble and annoyance cauacd chronological order. by free access to the files is the disappearance The ncwspapcr index is very often a means of cards or the misfiling of cards. I would of making friends for the paper. I soon advise anyone buyhg new equipment or slart- found after coming to the Union that many ing a newspaper index to insist upon drawers organizations in the city, among them the Girl fittcd with locked rods. Scouts, Boy Scouts, Hampden County Im- It is debatable whether it is advisable in provement League, Community Welfare Asso- the case oi a newspaper which publishes bokh ciation and Chamber of Commerce are con- a morning and evening edition to index both stantly asking information on some of the editions or only the morning paper as is done most obscure articles dealing with their ac- on the Union. As I believe I mentioned before tivities. I keep note of these and try to be I index only the editorials of the evening especially observant of their needs. edition. The morning paper is, of course, lhf The index of the smaller newspaper has business man's paper. It contains the more a personality, or rather is made up of person- complete account of the news. The evening alities. In it one can see the hobbies and paper is the family newspaper and is mare peculiarities of individuals. This is because for enjoyment. the librarian of the smaller paper is in close contact with the members of the staff and with the public. She has an opportunity to observe that a The Baltimore Sun certain Sunday writer would feel slighted if By Wzlbatr F. Coyle, librarian, Balli~~iarc his most unimportant article were omitted. Sun. She follows the general trend of the editorial page and knows almost definitely what ma- Some papers, I believe, separate their li- tcrial each editorial writer would be most brary and the morgue (so called), but the Swl likely to want. I do not mean that such in- has merged such kindred branches. It hna dividuality should be emphasized to the ex- brought under one directtng head its library, clusion of general usefulness but that these which is really an excellent reference branch; personal desires should be blended so as to its public. bureau of information, with two satisfy the greatest number of people. phones and consequently two attendants; its The work in a one-man library takes on an clipping bureau or morgue, with probably educalional aspect. Each member of the staff three hundred thousand subjects and countless must have access to the index and they must clippings on file, and its pictures, over one be taught the rudiments of classification, and hundred thousand. In fact, this departmentla how to use the newspaper index intelligently. activities extend in so many directions that It is surprising to note how few people it is most difficult to specify or to enumerate. October, rgag SPECIAL LIBRARIES 309 The whole establishnlent is conducted from over seven hundred separate markillgs are the standpoint of llle public as well as the llecessary. For the new items cards are im- that is, the public has the run of the Sun; mediately typed, while for stones or subjects placc very largely. When school children want that are already in the cases cards nlust be information they troop to the Szcn library, "plucked" from the index, the additioIlal mat- whole classes at a time, which is almost a ter entered and the card returned t~ its proper daily occurrence. place with other cards in the cabinet, If there be a debate at any of the colleges If one stopped to read religiously one would or universities the students come to us for be swampcd, hence a quick glance at a story data on all sides of a given question and thy to get its gist and an instant decision is about stay nhtil they get it. Some ancient, though all the time we can afford We must pass highly respcctecl female, whose husband was rapidly down the column, going quickly from bitten in the fifth rib by a wild horsc fifty story to story and from page to page. years ago, must consult the files to refresh The system employed by the Baltiv~oreSlrn her memory on the details of the terrible ac- is, after all, very simgle, that is we ailn to cident-and so it goes. make it s~rnpleHy sticking in the main to the We actually cncourage this intercourse, or alphabetical theory. Where occasion demands touch, because therc exists between the Szin we "Erealc up" certain subjects into sub-divi- paper and the publ~ca peculiar and fraternal sions and cross-index as far as the volume relationship which the Szin prizes very highly. of wo~kwill permit. Under "France," for The bars are down. instance, mc have sixty-four subdivisions so I can imagine no more difficult task of far this pear. Going down the line from indcxing than that incident to a big newspaper. Amnesty and Apaches we wander through the I do not mean that the job is overpowering whole alphabet. "Germany" we have to date merely bccausc of its complications and in- made forty-eight sub&visions and there are tricacies, hut because of the tremendous vol- hundreds of other subjects with the same pro- ume 01 detail work that must be disposed of portion of subheads under a general guide. daily. Decisions must be instantly reached Our index except where sub-divisions are in- upon a multipilicity of subjects as the work troduced', is not only alphabetical but chrono- develops and there is the ever-present problem logical. as to just where to draw the line to make the As explained we do not utilize a new card indcx usablc, comprehensive, complete and for each entry of a given subject but we yet not submerged in so tnuch detail as 10 "pluck" the card from the files and make the retard the progress of the work. additional notation on that card. Of course, back of every index (and I Editorials are carried as a separate unit might add in every index) is the human mind. 2nd on the cards we aim to give a brief digest, An index does not just happen. The human resume or summary of each editorial. elcincnt is the basis of all newspaper indexes. Sports arc lilrewise in one unit, but classified The job is far from being mechanical and and given liberal sub-division treatment. the time will never come when one may stand I think the SIG~Icloes what no other paper in the middle of the room, whistle and have has attempted as a finishing touch to its index. information pop out of the files and arrange AL the end of the year it sets typists to work itseli bcfore one's eyes after the fashion of who copy the whole index on long sheels, in the trick moving picture. Be quite convinced duplicate. These sheets are later bound most hat the first prerequisite of an index is a substantially. They comprise four great trained force, for that index will function or books. The paper used is. the best and the not function in proportion to the training, boulld indexes are supposed to last forever natlwal sb~htyand adaptability of the workers. a day. Duplicate volumes arc ~laccd:n Now as to our job. The first step we take a The Szln has bcen doitlg this since in indcxing is to go over the paper and by 1919. That year the index was embraced in quickly marking the various items indicate the olle volunx-now it complises four. subject, or cross-subjects under which each The Evejn~rg Swt index is not typed as item is to be indexed described because, among other thin@, there This may take an hour, but generally an. is a limil to the expense to which one should hour and a half and in the case of thc Sunday go to arcompIis+i even a g00c1 thing and be- edition three to three and one-half hours, cause, In a sense, a reference found in the when possbily from five hundred and fifty to mctljngswz will oitimes guide to a story of 310 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925 the same period in the evening edition. Ther card index must be consulted and the bound one index book under certain circumstances files utilmd. No matter how carefully the serves a double purpose. The Evening Suj~ clippings are filed and how scientifically the is, of course, indexed as carefully as the sub-divisions are made. more or less confusion morning edition, the difference being that the and mixmg is bound to result from many per- accumulated cards of the former ale kept at sons of many departments handling the cut- hand for instant use from year to year, while tings, which in some instances are lost or en- those of the morning edition are wrapped and tirely worn out. It is comforting, therefore, stored after the bound volumes referred to to know that in the last analysis we have the come from the binders. card index and files to fall back upon. Right The sizc oE the card we use is 5 x 2% with here I may add that clippings filed are not approximately four or five entries on each and all taken from the Sun papers but from vari- there are one hundred thousand cards utilized ous sources, magazines and other newspapers, annually. To retypc this mass accurately and etc. We do not, of course, card index all with reasonable speed is indeed a vast task. Stin editions, but only those termed the regu- The whole must be proofread, mistakes cor- lar city or the standard edition-morning and rected, sheets kept immaculate and the work evening. Wc do, however, clip the several speeded The whole job is done in the office- editions and endeavor to kcep a rather com- that is, it is not farmed out-although two plete record. Aside from this the library has extra typists are employed. charge of binding the Szin papers which is To consider and discuss the Svn index- done each month and all editions are included. with particular refcrcnce to the card system Hence, if we should fail to clip a slory we still without taking into account the clipping filing have the files of the several editions. burcau would sunply leave half the subject Pictures are filed numerically In this con- untouched. While the two are separate and ncction we utilize an alphabetical card index- distinct in their preparation they are utilized the number say, onc hundrcd on the card of as one in the sense that both contribute to "John Smith" directs to envelope one hundred the final result. which contains the pictures and cuts of said It is very difficult to decide which is the "John Smith." Views of countries, states, more important-the card index or the clip- cities and hundreds of other subjects are in- ping equipment. The card index gives refer- cluded in our pictoral collection. ence to stories, large and small, in the back and current files of the Sun papcrs that are VI. kept in the library. The card cntry gives the date, page and column of a given article. Th~s The Justice Collection of Material Relating index (in conncction with the bound files) is to the Periodical Press a permanent record and is, therefore, more By Professor Lwy M. Salr?~on, Vmsar enduring than the clippings. College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The latter are filed alphabetically under namcs or subjects and are numerously cross- The Justice Collection of material relating filed by means of duplicate clippings. These to the periodical press owes its existence to cuttings, from various editions of both papers two bequests-one a direct gift and one n are filed together in envelopes under proper fund, both unrestricted as to use except that subjects and each clipping is stamped not preference was to be given to material within only with the date, but the paper (morning or the general field of history. In the choice of evening) from which it is taken. The edition a special subject for which the gifts were to is also indicated. It is a great advantage to be used, several considerations led to the de- go to the cabinets and pull forth this accumu- cision in favor of the periodical, especially lated inforrnatio~?culled from several papers the newspaper press. The personal interests and various editions. These clippings may be and public activities of the donors had been (and almost invariably are) taken temporarily wide in extent, but definite in application, and from the library by members of staff and material concerning the newspaper press utilized in the editorial rooms and the public seemed an appropriate expression of these under supervision also has access to some of interests. Several large collections of news- the material. Rut clippings accumulate like papers in great libraries elsewhere made it snow flakes and eventually they "bulk up" to unwise to attempt to duplicate these and the such an extent that from time to tune the restricted library space in Vassar College also October, rga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES precluded such a choice. Few co!lections of affected the newspaper ; material concerning material relating to newspapers were known, Junlus, including different editions of the let- and these apparently concerned journalism ters, books on the Junius controversy, and rather than thc prcss. The one important otlicrs specially identifying the author with exception known was the William L Sayer one oi the sixty-two persons to whom the "Collection of Books and Pamphlets Relating authorship has been attributed;' and a con- to Printing, Newspapers, and Freedom of the siderable number of volumes centering around Prcss." This n~!mbers five hundred and John Willces and his efforts to secure freedom sixty-thrcc titles, and was a direct bequest ol tbe mess to thc Frec Public Library of New Bedford, Uuch material has been collected in regard Massachusetts, but the terms ol the will made to thc legal aspects of the press both in no provis~onfor 11s further extension. Thus America and in Europe. In Amer~ca,ques- there seemed to be a real place for such a tions of the foreign language press and sec- collection as has been assembled in the Vassar ond class postal rates have been conspicuously Collcgc Library. in the eye of the law. In England, regulation In the Justice Collection a somewhat sharp of the press through taxation was uppermost distinction has becn made between material for a hundred and fifty years. In France, all connectetl with journalism and that concernmg forms of censorship have been repeatedly the press. Without consulting journalists, practiced, wh~lein Germany direct control journalism has been interpreted as having to of thc press has been most frequcntly In the to do with the very definite technical process saddlc. A specla1 effort has bceii made to involved In the preparation of material for collcct tnnterlal on all these legal aspccts of the newspaper press, wh~lethe "press" has the newspaper. lluch has been secured in been ~indcrstoodas including periodical mate- the way of parliamentary reports of the com- rial that results from this technical press. The mittees that have dealt with the subjecl in clistinctions made by librarians, journalists, England. Various collections of statutes and studcrils of hlstory usually vary some- glve, it is believed, a complete series of the what. The one herc used between journalisn~ laws that have affected the prcss in France, and the press seems convcnient for historians from the French Revolution to the present. and is oflered as such rather than as a defi- Not only in France but elsewhere there is a nik boundary line between two intimately somewhat exlcnsive literature dealing with related fields. every phase of censorship-religious, political, Tbc collection covers six main fields The military, and business. Even more extensive first incluclcs books, pamphlets, excerpts, off- is the literature concerning the conversc of prlllls, and reprints that very definitely deal censorsh~p-f reedom of the press-and the with the prcss as it has been here defined. resultant of the two, as ~t is, appears in the Thcse have been classified under sixty-two laws concerning libel and the reports of libel headings that are inainly an expansion of the suits The collection contains more than a Dcwey system of classification under the 070's hundred volumcs on the law of libel and of The worlts thus classified include reference reports of libel trials, and thcse are of special material, as bibliographies, directories, and value in showing the changing ideas as to what annuals ; histories of the prcss; special fields, constitutes libel. as editorials, press correspondence, illustra- An ent~relydiffere~lt class of lite~atureis tions, humor, poetry; accounts of special found In the biographies, autobiographies, forms of the press, as the religious, political, recollections, diaries, journals, letters and cor- literary prcss, amateur and trade journals, respondence of persons who have been eminent the forcign language and the country press; in the press. Editors, specla1 correspondents, collections about individual journals, as war correspondents, interviewers, caricaturists, Pitizclz, complete worlts of individuals who cartoonists and general illustrators of Amer- have studied different aspects of the press, ica, England, Francc, and Germany, with spa- as M. Hatin; collections of pamphlets issued radic volumes from other countries, are all to right obvious wrongs, as those of Wilmer represented in this personal literature. Atlcinson in favor of ireedom of the press Pure litcrature, if there can be an agree- and rcasonable postal rates, as far as they ment in regard to what. is meant by the term. of the whole sub ' It has been poss~ble to check these up by an elaborate manuscl~pt b~bliograph JCCt rrepmd by Robert F. Pd. This lists on. hundred an$ fiftynme different clltions, one hundl*ed and forty-three works about Junius, and s~xty-two volumes ldent~fying Junlus w~lhas many dlfIerent publ~cmen 312 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925 is represented by a few vnlumes of collected begun during the war when it was impossible poems, an occasional drama, and a small to secure works on the German press and number of novels. Manv novels are called only very slowly have the more well-known novels of the press became one or more of books been addcd. It was practically five the characters are persons connected in some years before it was possible to get a copy of capacity with the press, but these have been Der Kampf zwr die Ala1-an important pam- for the most part excluded since the novels phlet dealing with the charges brought against ado not concern any vital problem connected a great industrial organization that it had at- with the press, such as is illustrated by S. H. tempted to corrupt the German press in the Adam' The Clanon. interests of Pan-Gcrmanism. Even then all News collecting agcncics are represented by that was accomplished was to have a typewrit- a few volumes but the collection still lacks a ten copy made from the original in Berlin. complete file of the reports of the Associated An examination of the collection of books Press. as a whole leads to a few interesting observa- The newspaper as a business enterprise is tions in regard to d~fferencesin national in- ~epresenteclby volumes concerning the pro- terests. In France alone, with a few conspic- duction and the distribution of papers-ques- uous exceptions in our own country and in tions that rangc from pulp mills to newsboys. Germany, has the academic world seemed to A very few illustrative volumes on technical consider the press a suitable subject of rc- journalism have been added, but no effort has search that leads to advanced degrees. But been made to increase the number. the cosmopolitan character of academic France In the selection of books and pamphlets, has led to thc publication of a number of wide latitude has been used and a considerable important monographs treating, for example, number have been included that treat of the of the history oE the press in different coun- press only incidentally. The Partmwe Papers, tries, as in Bulgaria, while from the provincial for example, are primarily concerned with universities have come important treatises un subjects quite remote from the press, but the legal aspects of the press. France alone Lord Panmure's papers show page after page has had a Hatin whose monumental bibliog- the constant hostility of the war office to The raphy of French newspapers, history of the Tirrres and to its war correspondent, William press in France, special brochures as those Howard Russell. As such the volumes have on Renaudot, and special studies, as those a distinct place in the collection, and one all made of the clandestine press and freedom the more important because this hostility is of the press, give him the pre-eminence among so unconsciously disclosed. The Autobiog- all writers about the press in any country. raphy atid Letters of Sir A. H. Layard are This exccptional interest in the press on the far remote from the sanctum of the editor, part of France may possibly be due to the but they inadvertently leave ajar the door long controversies that have prevailed there of the diplomat's sanctum and show how the between authority and the press over the ques- ambassador of Great Britain boasts of his tion of censorship. Polit~cal,legal, and ec- skin in securing the support of newspaper clesiastical interest in the country has more correspondents, and "their incessant and ex- than once been focused on the press and ~t aggerated approval of all he says and does." has maintained an important part in French This description of books and pamphlets life. indicates but does not exhaust the types of In England, the literature of the press is works found in the Justice Collection. In largely personal-lives, recollections, letters, bringing them together much initial help was and correspondence of persons associated with gained from H. W. Peet's Bibliography of the press make up the greater part of it. The Journalisw, prepared for the 1915 edition of two great problems of the press in England Sell's Tvorld's Press and reprinted by Talcott have concerned freedom of parliamentary re- Williams for the Pulitzer School of Journal- porting and the regulation of the press ism. The catalog of the William L. Sayer through taxation. Of special studies of the Collection in New Bedford, Massachusetts, collectwe, abstract press there seems to be was specially helpful in securing reports of scarcely one. This in turn may perhaps be llbel trials. explained by the extremely individualistic There are wide gaps on the library shelves attitude of the English. that could not be avoided. The collection was America, with its approximately hundred

The familiar name of the Allgcmiene Anzdgcn Cesellschaft. October, IgaS SPECIAL LIBRARIES

~chool~of journalism and institutions offcring omn~sc~cnccthe war time press makes evident. courses in journalism, leads all other coun- The illustrntor, caricaturist, and cartoonist had tries in he production of works on technical all lound in politics their most fruitful ven- journalism. It also apparently leads all in tures-the war changed the scene of work, the multipkity of works on the business side taught them a new language of symbolism, of the newspaper. dipped their pencils in venom, and showed the The literature available in regard to the possibilit~esof substitution if the objects press in other countries is as yet too meager desired could not be depicted. The propa- to justify further conclusions in regard to its gandist had been an eminently respectable general character. missionary striving to convert to Christianity The collection of books is but one of the the heathen world-the war turned his face half dozen main classes of material included homeward and it became his to call black, in the Justice Collection. Another important white; to make the worse appear the better one is that of newspaper clippings. These reason ; to convert Christians to practices pre- do not in any sense constitute "a morgue" viously held to charactcrize the heathen; the sincc they concern only the newspaper press press agent had a chair in every office, pub- itself. Prior to 1914,the collection as such licity becamc the. universal goal, and propa- d~dnot exist and its possibilities were un- ganda the means of attaining it. Before the dreamed of. But the war at once opened war, the foreign language press had been a up conditions that it had been believed never successful means of informing immigrants again could arise. Only a few years before about the new country that was to be their a writer in an American magazine had de- home and of circulating news in regard :O clared, "Censorship in this country is dead." the old home they had left. To all others its But censorship in Europe was an immedlale very existence was scarcely known and when outcome of the war and there were ominous its clientele had learned enough English' to portents of its recurrence here. The war read American papers it quickly died a na- correspondent, it was somewhat generally be- tural death. Scarcely a representative of the lieved, had run his course, but he seemed at foreign language press in America had ever once to be endowed with new life, however led more than an ephemeral existence. But much he might fret against the chains that the war changed that situation too. Authority prevented flight. The advertisement had re- for the first time in this country discovered :t. corded a life of peace and good-will, but now It compelled the publication of translations it carried appeals to relieve the world-wide with the originals ; it interned, prosecuted, and suffering entailed by the war; it beckoned persecuted editors ; it raided printing plants ; it young men and held out inducements for them denied the freedom of the mails to the foreign to join the army or the navy; it enticed into language press. lMany of these papers as a loans the hoarded savings of men, direct result of the war were compelled to women and children as well as the surplus close their doors permanently. More than millions of the rich; it opened up previously one courageous American newspaper was untapped sources of wealth and helped make charged with pro-Germanism, certain issues fortunes in a day, as it also floated bubbles were refused the privilege of mail service, that quickly burst leaving ruin in their train- and long, expensive journeys to Washington the war gave the advertisement a place of were entailed to assure authority that telling influence and power it had never had before. the truth was not necessarily synonomous The editor prior to the war had occupied a with pro-Germanism. All of these conditlons, place of influence and had been respected in prior to the war believed to be impossible, the community, but the war placed him under were recorded in and through the press. A suspicion. Perhaps he was not zealous enough collection of scarcely a hundred miscellaneous in urging its prosecution, perhaps he was over- clippings on the press cpickly rose to one of zealous in criticizing its prosecution by the practically fifteen thousand. These records in government, perhaps he was rebuked for large part conditlons due to the war and its divulging confidential information before aftermath. The clippings are mounted, dated, authority had released it for the public, per- elaborately classified, and they give, often un- haps he had sufficient reasons for disclosing consciously, an infallible record of normal and the presence of corruption in high official abnormal life during the period covered by circles-how much he had at least temporarily them fallen into disfavor from his position of A third great class of material consists 314 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5 of transcripts from representative German A fourth great class of material is that found newspapers during the greater part of the in pcriodicals. Somewhat more than a thou- years 1917 to 1918. Since the allied govern- sand articles dealing directly with problems of ments CIICI not permlt the general receipt of the prcss have been listed from the quarterly the newspapers of Germany and Austria in reviews, and monthly magazines, but only to the countries at war with them, the supply a limitcd extcnt from weekly journals. These of thesc papers was cut off from America articlcs haw Imn cntercd under the review or after ~tscntrance into thc war. But by spe- magazine in which thcy appear rather than cial arrangement twenty selected newspapers by the subjects of which they heat, since this wcre reccivcd kiy the Library of Congress arrangement gl~csan interesting and impor- where they werc naturally inaccessible to all tant record of the personality of the revicws persons unablc to go to II'ashington. A satis- themselves. Tlrs Edinburgh Review and factory arrangement was, however, made by Blackzc~ood's Magazine of thc early nineteenth the National Board for Historical Service century wcre interested in far differen1 ques- whereby selections were madc and translated tions from those that interest their successors under the general supervision of Dr. Victor S. of thc same name today The carly caustic Clark. This service was originally organized criticism found 111 both period~calsgivc evi- for the benefit of the governlncnt offices, but dence of the ~h~aticnccand self-confidence of later complcte sets wcre madc available for extreme youth, while the maturity of outlook the use of libraries. It is a significant record and mellowed judgment found in the sane of the perverted idea of patriotism prevading periodicals today record growing tolerance, during the war that no general advantage was sanity, and wider outloolc. The inherent dog- taken of th~scscept~onal opportunity and that matism of one magazine, thc flippant survey ult~matelyonly SIX sets were placed in libra- of the worlcl by another, the crusading spirit ries by thc commercial house that issued thcm. of a third, the wise judgments of a, fourth, They may be found in the Library of Con- the gc~luinesympathy with all that is best 111 gress, and thc libraries of Princeton Univer- literature shown by still a fifth, and the cs- sity, the un~vers~.tiesof Chicago, Michigan, and tremely provincial tcndenc~es01 anothcr are Wisconsm-the slxth is in the library of Vas- all among the characteristics of different mag- sar College azines that thcy unconsciously rccord of them- These photostats numbel about twenty selves. They are indicated by the names of thousand, and thcy cover the period during contributors, by the subjccts treated, and by which America was in the war. They are of the wording of the titles. If periodicals are 6 x 4 size, cvcry slip has the name and the listed by the country of publication, an addi- date of the paper from which the extract is tional double record is given of the interests taken, they are arranged alphabetically by common lo different nations and also of those countries, and chronologically, by subjects that are peculiar to each. The absence of within each cout~try, and they are numbered articles in some period~calsat a time when consecut~velyunder each subject. These slips ccrtaln subjects, like freedom or censorship of thus give and make easlly available a con- thc prcss, are frecly and vigorously discussed spectus of internal conditions in Germany elsewhere becomes an ~nteresting record of and Austria during a year and a half, and restraint on the press and of the fear on the also of their mternational relations (luring the part of authority that lies behind all censot- period. A mass of infoimation is thus at hand, ship. It must also be noled that the very much of it nowhere else easily accessible in length of periodical articles sometimes affords this country, that is of immeasurable value to a key to certain charactelistics of the peri- the student of history and of the press. It odlcals themselves. It used to be said at one covers primarily all phases of thc war and of time in the University of Michigan that Eng- politics, as also agriculture, commerce and in- lish history was divided Into perlods of thir- dustry. Of special interest are the transcripts teen pages cach. This fairly well characterizes concerning the rclation of the government to in principle the soncwhat rigid adherence of the newspaper press. To anyone who has some American magazines to a maximum uscd these transcripts, the German Revolut~on length of ten pages for serious, or unillus- of 1918needs no furlher explanation as to its trated articles. Much greater flexibility seems causc and ~tssubsequent history. to prevail in the English and the French re-

' Ed~tor~alparag~aphs, Atnericmr H~storical Review. 24. 747. July, 1919; 2s: 147. October, 1919. October, 19a5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 315 views in regard to the length allowcd articles Among interesting reprints are those of sim~lar in scope and character. In almost eighteen numbers of the first English news- countless ways, the personality of a periodical paper. Its origin has been traced to letters makes itself felt and is another reason that written home during the Thirty Year's War, has seemed to justify the listing of articles they were printcd in Ilolland, the first number by periodicals. is dalcd December 2, 1620, and it notes that This list of articles on the press does not coplcs are "to be soulde by Pctrus Kcerlus, at all cluplicate the very elaborate and all- dwclllng in thc Calverstrecte, in the uncertalne inclusive one compiled by Mr Cannon,' since time." The reccnt reprint of the Pzlgger hTcws it includes but a small fraction of his titles, Letfers makes generally available one of the it includes titles from a few representative most interesting collections of news letters periodicals published in French or German, in existence. it enters all titles under the name of the peri- .A final class of material includes special odical rather than by the subject discussed, volumes or pamphlets that may be classed as it covers probably a longer period of time, and "association copies." The library has one it mcludes only reviews and magazines. Both seiies, thirteen volume, of Slr Lawrence varieties of lists-by topic and by periodical- Gomme's own copy of his edition of the have their place and each has ~tsown special Getttluman's Magazine Every volume con- advantages. ' tains many annotations In his own hand, to- Two other classes of material, although not nether- m~thmuch loose material in the lorn1 less important, wlll demand brie1 attention. of letters and clippings Many presentation One of thcse is the collcctions-of newspapers copies are included in thc collection, more and rcprints that have some special signifi- tha~one havlng l~ersonaltouches that throw cance, either personal or public. One such was a pleasant light on frlcntlships among members sent to the Vassar College Library by a dis- of the press, All of this association material tinguished historian. When he made his first may be considered biographical in character, trip to Europe as a young man, he bought a and, as such, as lendlng interest to the per- newspaper at every place whcre his railway sonal side of the newspaper press. train stopped, as well as where he personally tarried, and the series thus contains several In making a general survey of the Justice interesting records. A collection somewhat Collection, one opinion is very definitely similar in spirit was sent by a Vassar alumna reached. It shows very clearly the tendency who has been paying her way around the toward co-operation and the mutual aid so world by stopping in different places long strongly pressed by prince Kropotkin, as con- enough to earn money enough to carry her versely, it shows the tendency away from to hcr next objective point. The library has, individualistic policies, competition, "the therefore, been enriched by newspapers issued scoop," "the beat," and the general "devil- in remote places, as the Fiji Islands; their take-the h~ndcrmost"attitude toward all fel- very existence had been almost unknown to low newspaper workers. This spirit of mu- some of us, and to locate them it has been tual aid 1s illustrated by the formation of news necessary to resort to the atlas. Another col- collecting organizations, associations to dis- lection of Greek newspapers issued during credit fraudulent advertising, and codes of the Grcco-Turkish war was sent by a Vassar newspaper ethics. Personal goodfellowship is alumna living in Greece and it has been in- seen in numerous press clubs, press assocla- teresting to sce how far it has been possible tions, and press conventions that bring to- from them to reconstruct conditions in Greece gether the national and the international even by those uniamiliar with the language of workers in thc same field, especially editors. modern Greece. Another interesting collec- publishers, and advertisers. If as yet all is tion has very recently come from Cambridge, not well with the press in the opinion of its LIassachusetts, comprising newspapers and sharpest crltics, the Justlce Collection is sub- affiliated material covering the period of the mitted as evidence that the press is on the war. The papers are all arranged chrono- logically and they promise to give invaluable path with a wide outlook at every turn aid- to the study of the war period. of the road. Carl L Cannon. lournalirnt a Btbliography. New York Public Library. 1924. 'This list is not yet available for general use, but it in boped to make it so in time. 316 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5

the library, only to find that apparently the highly intelligent denizens of that dark and Schools of Journalism and the Newspaper sulphurous corner have clipped and filed away Library information upon every subject under the sun By Harry B. Celtter, Professor of Jouriznlisnz, except upon those subjects which might con- Boston Universzty. ceivably recur in the day's news. I once searched myself nearly blind for a The School of Journalism, or rather college picture of the five-masted schooner William L. instruclion in joulnalism, is at least twenty Douglas, which had come to grief trying to ycars old. For twelve years or more it has cut across lots down on Nantucket Shoals, been building up its own literature, until the until in a flash of inspiration. I looked under row of its text-books fills a long library shelE. "Shoe Manufacturers," and there she was, all But ddigent search through this long shelf sails set. And once I failed to find any envel- of books on newspaper work fails to disclose ope whatever on Sir Thomas Lipton until the in any one of them more than a brief para- genial ex-officc boy in charge of the morgue graph or two devoted to that important de- told me that I would find it filed under his partment of the newspaper familiarly known "last name." "Isn't Lipton his last name?" I as the "graveyard" or "morgue," and officially asked. "No," was the reply. "His last name's known as the "reference library." Bart." And yet thcre is no department of the news- Now the newspaper librarian can help paper which is more essential to the efficient mightily in this matter of accuracy by intel- perlormance of its dual function of telling and ligent selection of reference material and by interpreting the news than is a properly or- filing under a system which will unearth that ganized and cficiently administered reference material surely and quickly when it is needed. library. That, think, we may accept as axio- I But he must not only do that. He must prove matic. And so, starting from that as an accepted truth, I am going to treat my theme to the reporter and editor that he has the ma- terial, that he can find it quickly, and that ne from two points of view: first, the relation can and will co-operate with the news writer. oE the newspaper library to the newspaper itself, and especially the extent of its responsi- If he can only get editors, reporters and re- bility for some newspaper faults which are write men into the habit of visiting his corner matters of current and caustic criticism; and of the editorial plant, because they know that thcre they can get the information they want, sccond, how college instruction in journalisnl can help in the systematic organization and he will inevitably help to reduce the number of inaccuracies in the news columns. efficient administration of the newspaper li- brary. But to get them into that habit he must The prmcipal cause of the inaccuracies in provc first that he has the goods, and that he newspapers is haste-the haste which compe- can deliver the goods surely and speedily. tition in newspaper work enforces and which Otherwise, the news writer will continue to the public in its eagerness for the news de- depend on his memory. mands. It is especially marked in the evening Filing systems are very important, but let papers, whose reporters do little actual news the system adopted be the most efficient pos- writing, but are primarily "leg men" who sible. What could a newspaper library be? A real gather the news and telephone it to a rewrite battery working under high pressure in a busy reference library, directed by a newspaper man and noisy office. With five minutes only to or woman of broad education and of sound the dead-line, what time is there for checking news training; his associates only a little less expert than himself. A library designed, up facts? More and more the news writer rclies upon his memory. It's a wonderful gathered and arranged to meet the specific memory, too, but it isn't infallible. needs of the newspaper which maintains it; its clips, its pictures, its reference books ar- ranged in the simplest adequate system that Check up in Files library science can devise, so that reference Shall we check up by a visit to the may be instant, accurate and thorough. "morgue"? By all means, if there's time, and if-the big if-if the morgue can help. Too Job for Trained Mind often it can't. Every newspaper worker has This library job is a job for a traified man worn out shoe leather between city room and or woman-trained not only in library science October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 317 but in the staple of the news And right making him more guarded in jumping at there is the rub. There are plenty of good conclusions, more painstak~ngin his gathering news men, but of the arl of filing information of facts on h~sown account. for reference purposes they are wholly ig- norant. And it is also true that the better the Reading for the newspaper library would newspaper man the surer he is to rebel against develop thoroughness in his reading It is being stuck into the dull job of librarian, constant complaint of college instructors that which has lor years been the refuge of the students read sketchily and inadequately. To s~lpcrannualed and leg-weary where it has read with a definlte purpose in view, the pur- not been the field of the graduated office boy pose of reference filing, would in itself require who has failed to show any special aptitude greater thoroughness, and the discipline would as a news reporter. inevitably reflect itself in the student's reading for other purposes. Every school or department of journalism should, I believe, maintain a typical newspapcr Newspapers would benefit in two ways if reference library-not a morgue to serve the well planned and thorough instruction in news- college paper merely, nor one designed pri- paper library technique were offered in our marily to meet the reference needs of the schools and departments of journalism. Ob- classes in feature writing and editorial writ- viously it would be to the advantage of their ing, but one complete and varied enough to own libraries if they could command the serv- meet the needs of a metropolitan newspaper. ices of men and women trained not only in Every SC~OO~could offer, even if it does not library technique but also broadly in news requirc for a degree, a course either of a sense and discrimination. The inadequacy of semester or a full year, in newspaper library many newspaper libraries is due to lack of practice, and should in addition require that trained workers. every candidate for a degree in journalism The second benefit to the newspaper would should do a fair amount of laboratory work consist in making a reality of a vision I haie in the library during at least two years of his of what the school of journaIism newspaper course. library might become. Given enough material Such instruction would benefit the student, with which to work, enough both in amount and in the long run it would benefit ,pews- and variety, and with a larger corps of library papers everywhere. workers available than any one newspaper could afford to maintain, the school news- It would benefit the student ib four highly paper library might in a very few years after desirable ways. First of all, it would greatly it was started become the best in its particular benefit his sense of news and his judgment region. It would be f ree from the inhibitions of news values. In connection w~ththis library imposed by the policy of any one newspaper, work he would have to read-read, not skim- and so could serve them all as a supplement newspapers of all types, from all over the to their own resources. country, magazines and reviews, boolcs. His judgment in clipping and filing would meet an acld test, and he would have an opportunity VI. to obscrve the test-does the material he selects recur in the news, so that it is called Preservation of Old Newspapers for and nscd? He would learn what in the By Mawice Syiitonds, librarian, New York news is of temporary and ephemeral import- Daily News. ance, and what of permanent value. His news Newspapers which chronicle events through- sense would be sharpened, and his discrimina- out the world are of such pract~calimportance tion made more keen. that newspaper librarians should look forward It would inevitably develop his sense of for their preservation, so that h~storiansand accuracy. Here again concentrated reading future gencrations may be able to read what with a view to filing for future reference has transpired in the preceding years The would give the student a positive check of ordinary fife of a newspaper file, such as used story against story, of today's story against in the New York Public Library, is from ten yesterday's and last weeks. Inaccuracies In the to twenty years, and after that period, the news reporting would thus be brought more results from handling, wear and tear, leave vividly to his attention, and could not help the volume in a crumbling mass 3 18 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1915

In newspaper offices where the files do not Mr. Harry Miller Lydenberg, the chief ref- go through such tremendous handling the life erence librar~anof the New York Public Li- 01 the newspaper file is about twenty to forty brary, who has been interested in preserving years, but what is to be done after that period newspaper filcs for posterity, clearly stated is a problem which must be looked into. This that though as many as over one hundred ex- deterioration is attributed to rapid rotting of periments have been tried until the Japanese the paper, madc of wood pulp, and to chlorine tissue was found to be successful, the library in the product. is still experimenting with other domestlc and With the public interested in conten~porary foreign t~ssues,hut so far they have found events, stimulated by the war, some process the Japanese tissue to be the best. of preserving thc newspaper file had to be Mr. Lydenberg has bcen instrumental in se- found. The New York Public Librarv felt curmg this process and w~ththe aid of sev- this need immediately because of the constant eral prominent membcrs of the llbrary, has at use of their files, especially since August, 1914, least found a solution, which 1s somewhat of the Great War period, as many of their bound 'a relief to them, considering the hundreds of files havc been mutilated beyond repair. files bound prior to this new process have all After exhausti\-e research and experiment- reached the stage of deterioration, and are just mg with many solutions, such as shellacmg hcing held as a matter of record. the pages, varnishing with liquid, liqu~dcellu- loid, shellac and glycerine, turpentine and paraffin, carbon tetrachloride and paraffin, Process cis Perfected several special paper preservatives, a flexible The process as perfected by the library is varnlsh w~thl~nseed oil and many other exceedingly simple. With the pasting down on n~e~hods,all these experiments proved futile. a glass top or steel topped table, the operator They thcn learned that Japan produced a wets the glass or steel with water and then hand-beaten fibre product, a transparent tissue, lays down a sheet of the tissue with the past- which was also tried out, and found to stand ing machine. Rite paste goes on the top of: all tests for durability. this tissue sheet ; then a dampened newspaper 1914 About they began their experiments page, a~~don top of this another tissue sheet, on this fine tissue. As a starter thcy exposed wth paste on top of that. to the sun and air for one hundred and fifty hours a piece of ordinary newsprint, a second This reinforced sheet is then hung up in a sheet covered with silk and a third covered rack to dry. When dry the sheet is placed with tissue paper. They then applied the between cardboard mats and subjected to pres- tests of the United States Bureau of Standards sure for several hours. To reduce its thick- for pl~abilityand bending and other,tests for ness still further it is run through a gas heated strength. The sheet covered with tissue paper mangle, so that not more than one-thousandth stood the tests better than the others. It was of an inch is added to its thickness in the discoverecl that the newsprint was protected preservation process. After the tissue edges from the air by this fine Japanese tissue on are trimmed down to the size of a newspaper both sides of the page, and was preserved the sheets arc ready for the binder. longer and in better condition, and they also The volume is made only one-half to three learned that the silk and chiffon had minute quarters of an inch thicker by this process. air spaces and permitted the air to reach the Of course, it must be understood that with newspaper pagc. The Japanese tissue prac- this fine tissue added to the pagc the legibility tically hermetically sealed the newsprint. This is slightly reduced, but the print is clear is what they are using now. enough to be read. This preservative method is free to all. An Experrsive Process There is no sccret to the process or method I To treat an ordinary volume with this used in preserving newspapers for the future. Officials of the Public Library will at all times be glad to explain their method to any news- paper librarian or others who are interested in preserving their files, public documents, pr~vatepapers or anything which has reached a deteriorated slate that renovation would give renewed life. October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES

Technology Group Chairman, Francis N. Cady, Nela Research Laboratory, Cleveland, Ohio

Annual Report, Igag activities should be or must be carried on At the Saratoga Springs Meeting last year outside of office hours As a consequence, -the Technology Group decided to try out the work is postponed and when finally performed committee method of organization and the is apt to be influenced by the mental attitude following co~nmitteeswere formed : Automo- that it is an additional demand on time al- tive, Mr. Powlison, chairnzan; Chemistry, ready overtaxed. It would seem to the chair- Miss Ashman, cllakntan; Construction, Mr. man that this is a subject well worthy of con- Lee, chairman; Electr~cal Engineering, Mr. sideration by the association as a whole and Jacob, cltninrran; Illuminating Engineering the question of provision for association work Miss Taylor, ckniririon; Metallurgy, Mr. as a part of regular library duties to be car- 'Bartholomew, ~hairvian; Patents, Mr. Price, ried on during library hours should, wherever chairman; Rubher, Miss Shearer, chairman; necessary, be taken up by the libiarian with Technical Engl~sh,Mr. Lee, chairntan; Utili- the executive charged with the responsibility ties, Miss Mitchill, clrui~man; Gcneral, Miss of the library operation and maintenance. Garvin, chair.rrrtrtr. This is common practice in such organizations Early in the fall the chairman of the group as the large engineering societies and is due submitted to the chairmen of the various com- in part to a recognition on the part of mem- miltees a tentative list of possible lines of ber companies of the value of association work to be supplemented by activities sug- work and affiliations. Every member of Spe- gested by the chairmen, themselves. With the cial Libraries Association should be able to exception of one or two, all cotnmittes have convince anyone and everyone of the value functioned and expect to report at this meet- of the organization and of the benefits to be ing. derived from it, and if not already equipped, Among the results accomplished may be should be provided with ammunition for the mentioned a plan for Technology Group ex- purpose. hibits at national convent~ons of the large FRANCISE. CADY technical and commercial associations such as the American Institute of Electrical Engi- Meetings neers, the American Society of Metallurgical Engineers, the American Institute of Archi- First Session, June 24, 1925 tects, the National Electric Light Associa- The chairman's report, read by the secre- tion, the American Gas Association, etc. tary, mentioned among results accomplished- Work on this has progressed to a point where a plan for Technology Group exhibits at the arrangements are being made for an exhibit conventions of technical and commercial asso- at the American Gas Association Convention ciations such as A.I.E.E., A.S.M.E., etc. at Atlantic City this fall. The Illuminating Another matter discussed in Mr. Cady's Engineering Committee has completed a bib- report was the feeling that association activi- liography on its subject, covering papers and ties of group members should or must be articles appearing during the past year. Work carried on outside of office hours. He em- has been clone on making the library better phasized that work so done is often postponed known to the company's executives and em- and when finally performed shows that it ployees and it was decided to make "publicity" was an additional demand on time already the keynote of this year's meeting of the overtaxed. He felt that members of the As- group. sociation should be able to convince anyone The question of whether the group shall of the value of the organization and that its continue to function through the agency of members should do their work for it as engi- committees and whether the present commit- neers do for their professional associations- tees will be reta~nedor new ones formed will during office hours. come up for discussion and decision at The reports of the various committees were Swampscott. next called for. One of the factors which seems to be most Miss Mitchill, chairman of the Public Utili- active in inhibiting the association activities ties Group reported an enlarged membership of group members is a feeling that these of that committee brougbt about through cir- SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

cularizing all Public Utility Libraries listed would be a piece of good publicity to use at in the Special Libraries Directory. Bibliog- their convention. raphies have been completed by this committee Another suggestion was to publish it as a as follows: "Separate" in SPECIALLIBRARIES. Illumination; by Miss E. M. Taylor, Phil- Miss Taylor next read her report on Li- adelphia Electric Company. brary Visiting. Customer ownership of public utility stock; The report of the Electrical Engineering by Miss Bernice Loveland, Southern Sierras Committee was then given by Mr. Jacob, Power Company. chairman. The oustanding contribution was Engineering education; by Mrs. Ruth McG. the iilm Mr. Jacobs had on d~splayin the Lane, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lobby showing Libraries in Industrial Con- Classification of public utility libraries; by Mr. cerns. George W. Lee, Stone 8- Webster. Extracts from letters of committee members Union list of periodicals; compiled by Miss suggested : (I) co-opcrating with Miss Mitch- Alma Mitchill, Public Service Corporation ill to secure grcater undcrstanding between the of New Jersey. S.L.A. and the national engineering associa- tions; (2) ir~fornlingthe members of the com- Other work accomplished was communicat- mittee of special phases of electrical engineer- ing with various technical associations relative ing on which each one is currently working. to arranging lor Technology Group exhibits at Copies of these lists are available from the their conventions. secretary of the Technology Group. Discussion followed regarding the matter Mr. Brown of Standard Oil Company of of handling such exhibits and it was decided New Jersey said he had a list of duplicate to have Mr. Cady appoint a committee to journals he was willing to offer to members take this in charge. Two publications were of the group. Miss Calfec of the Du Pont mentioned that might be of help in planning Experimental Station Library said she would exhibits : compile a list of her duplicate material and submit it to the group. Routzahn-A B C of Exhibit Planning. Mr. Lee, chairman of the Conslruction Corn- Pidgin-Department of Agriculture-List on mittee gave an informal report, mentioning Exhibits. particularly the "List of Bulletins Issued by the Structural Materials Research Laboratory" Mr. William Jacob, librarian of General and annotated by Mrs. Cafferata, and the Electric Company offered the loan of his film report of Miss Vormelkcr on "Literature on "Libraries in Industrial Concerns" to the Called for by the Public." exhibit committee. Miss Edith Shearer in her report of the Mr. ~ovhonin his report of the Automo- Rubber Committee said, in part, "Some of the tive Committee stated that the Automotive commitlee have exchanged lists of periodicals Commitfee was at work on union lists of in their libraries. A list has been compiled periodicals and textbooks. At present the list of bibliographies on rubber. This is available consists of the contents of the N.A.C.C. li- to anyone who may wish a copy. The main brary, rhat being the foundation on which the achievement is the b~bliographyon Sources of union list of automotive literature is to be Rubber Statistics compiled by Miss Wray, li- built. Indexes of interest in this list are: brarian of the United States Rubber Com- Title and author index of textbooks. pany." Index of automobile races, trials, and en- The next committee report was that of Miss durance contests. Taylor, choirman of the Committee on 11- Index of history of automobile companies, lumination. The work of this committee their formation, models produced, amal- resulted in the compilation of a very complete gamations, failures, etc. bibliography on various phases of illumination Index of automobile shows given, date and -covering the period from June, I924 to May, place and description of material shown 1925. at the various shows. Discussion followed concerning the publi- Indexes of specifications of the various cation of this piece of work. It was suggested groups of automobiles,. that the N.E.L.A. be consulted regarding the Miss Garvin, chairinan of the General Com- possibility of publishing it as a pamphlet,. It nittee, said she would like to get a statement' October, 1925' SPECIAL LJBRARIES from the members regarding the subject mat- other libraries books or magazines not found ter thcy wish t~ cover. Some work had been on its own shelves ; (6) in maintaining a ref- done but not enough to make a report. erence catalog useful not only in looking up Unusual recluests that were handled during articles but also in preparing bibliographies; the year were next discussed. (7) in providing and arranging for transla- Classification was the next subject of the tion of articles in foreign languages. program. Miss Keller, speaking for the Com- While created primarily for the use of the mittee ori Methods emphasized particularly research laboratories, the Nela Research Li- the clearing house on classification being or- brary has been built up with the idea of serv- ganized by that committee. She urged mem- ice to all departments of the company and, in bers io send copies of their classifications to consequence, contams books and periodicals this committee and to co-operate with them on general business administration and opera- hi eliminating duplication of effort. tion, all the prominent works on illuminating In ihe discussion of union lists of periodi- engineering as well as complete files of pres- cals Mr. Brown suggested that a single list cnt and past periodicals devoted to this sub- bc made covering all committees and available ject, books and journals on general and popu- to all rnembcrs 01 the Technology Group. lar science, electrical engmeering, chemistry, Mr. Lee resigned as chairman of the Con- physical chemistry, metallurgy, glass manu- struction Committee and Mrs. Cafferata was facture, in addition to a large collection an appointed in his place. physics. Mr. Powlison suggested that the Patent Among the resources of the library which Committee be assimilated by the other com- you might not know are available are such mittees. busmess journals as Imflistrial Management, Mr. Cady brought up the possibility of Systew, Printers' Ink, Prilrters' Id Monthly, merging the Committee on Mctallurg~with Advertising and Scllijlg Fortnightly, and Signs thc Committee on Chemistry. of the Times; such house organs as The Finances. Various plans for raising funds Spcrryscope, Digcst, Edison Round Table, were discussed, the chair finally appointing a Brardsley Talks; library journals such as Li- Finance Committee as follows: Miss Craig, brary Service, SPECIALLIBRARIES, The Open cizainrlan; Mr. Brown; and Miss Wray. Shelf; popular scientific magazines such as The Scirjrtific Awerican, Popdar Alecha)iics, Second Session, June 25, 1925 Popdar Science dlonthly, and Science News- Keynofe-Publicity Letter; wireless magazines such as Ezperi- ~~cntolWireless and the Radio Service Bulle- 1. tin; a varied collect~on of reference books Nela Research Libraty and Your such as encyclopedias and dictionaries-Eng- Department lish and foreign, regular and technical- tables of contents, fact books, engineering By ~rmzri;E. Cady, Nelo Research Library, handbooks; publications of the United States Cleveland. Bureau of Standards and of various univer- The value of a library to an industrial or- sity and other laboratories; quite a few his- ganization lics in what the library can do to torical and biographical books dealing with help the members of the organization to pro- science and scientific men. duce more or better work. This assistance Since the inception o; the library a card may present itself in various forms: (I) in catalog has been mainiained giving refer- providing quick wd convenier~taccess to writ- ences to articles on incandescent lamps, light ten data and information on all branches of sources of all kinds, lighting of all kinds, work of interest to the industry; (2) in pro- lighting equipment and, in general, everything viding library attendants adequately trained to directly connected with illuminating engineer- help in looking up information or in telling ing. whcre it can be found; (3) in providing for Tlriuk of ihe Ltbrary searches for information when requested to the next time you are confronted with a an extent limited only by the time of the new problem; library personnel; (4) in notifying a depart- the next time you wish you knew where You ment interested of the appearance of articles could find a certain bit of informtion of special importance in its selective field; (5) or data; in knowing where to ask for and obtain from 32 a SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1gn5

the next ,titne you run into a snag in yourq Keep your originality, but do not hesitate to work ; take advantage of the other man's suc- the next time you are at your wits' end to cesses as well as his mistakes. know how to proceed; You are where you are because you think. the next time you plan a new piece of work; Keep your thinking up-to-date. You are what you are because of what you the next time you are asked a question not know. Re greater by knowing more. answerable off-hand; Time is money. Time spent in the library the next time you are asked to write an means more nloney earned. art& describing your work; The harder the problem, the more import- the next time you think you have discovered ant are information and data. The li- somcthing new ; brary has lots of both. the next time you wish a little relaxation Progress comes from thc right kind of in your technical reading; whenever you pushing. Push the library; it will push fecl you have time to see what others you. are domg in your line and wlsh to keep Nela Research Library Is Maintairred for abreast of progress. Service. We Invite Yo?e to Make More Use of This Rcwewiber Yozir Rescarch Library Service. Do You KNOW F. E. CADY,in charge KATHRYNL. HILL,librarian that the library is locatcd in Nela Research Laboratory at Nela Park, the building with the dome; that Mr. Cady or Miss Hill will be glad to Selling library service to executives and help you look up a subject, a book, or a employees of industrial firms. (Informal talk periodical, illustrated with lantern slides.) William I?. that you can often save time by calling Mr. Jacob, librarian, General Electric Library. Cady or Miss Hill on the telephone; Not available for publicat~on that you can borrow from the library any books and periodicals with the excep- tion of the ordinary reference works Classification Problems of Industrial Re- and the last number of a journal, for search Libraries ' periods in general limited only by the requests of others; By Julian I; Sir~itli,teclznical librarian, The B. F. Goodrich Co., Arkroft, 0. that the library is open during office hours and that by making special arrangc- According to the new Special Libraries Di- ments, it can be used in the evening, on rectory, there are nearly a thousand libraries Sunday, or on holidays ; in this country which are devoted to special that the main library room is quiet, con- fields Many of them are connectcd with re- search organizations In science or technology. ducive to inspiration and generally free by from ~nterruption; All of them are or have been confronted class~fication difficulties. that in the back of each issue of the Trans- Somc of these libraries use the Dewey deci- actions of the Zlluniinating Engitreering mal class~fication,others that of the Library Society there is an Illumination Index of Congress; a few use both. Some use modi- suppl~cdbs this library containing a rec- fications of one or both. Industrial research ord of current literature on the subject libraries, as a rule, contain large and rapidly of illuminating engineering? growing collections on topics which come with- in a narrowly constricted range of the pub- Library Aphorisms lished lists of classes. Anyone who has ever attempted to apply either of these systems to Avoid wasteful duplication of effort by such a collection will agree that the lists as knowing what has been done before. printccl are entirely inadequate. 1925 October, SPECIAL LIBRARIES 323

The need is well illustrated by some of the If he underlakes to make the expansion attempts to meet it by industrial and other himself, these and other questions will arise organizations. In the industries, witness the to perplex him; and moreover, all or part of efforts of Eastman for photography, Du Pont Lhe same ground may already have been cov- for chemical technology and Goodrich for ered by someone else. rubber. Witness also, among institt~~ions,the Some of his perplexities could be solved for modified Dewey clas$fications worked out by him by Dewey's publishers or by the Classi- the University of Illinois Engineering Experi- fication Division of the Library of Congress ; ment Station for cngineering, by the Concil- but these authorities could not make the entire ium B~bliogra~hicumfor electrochemistry and expansion without help from petroleum tech- by thc International Institute of Bibliography nologists. Briefly, the classification authorities for various classes. can help the special library, but the special It may fairly be asked whether some of library nu st be prepared to bring in experts thesc attempts have not solved the problem, at in its field to aid the classification authorities. least for some special subjects. The answer Such a s~luationclearly indicates a need for is no Progress has been made, hut the final co-operative effort; but co-operation is a solution is yet distant. Perfcction, here as much-abused word, more easily spoken than elsewhere, is unattainable; but we can still performed. With due recognition of the diffi- travel far in that direction culties to be met, a plan of co-operation is The essential characteristics of a satisfac- herewith offered for consideration. tory classification, as set forth by Dewey in Stripped of details, the mechanism for bring- the preface to his Deci~nal CIassification and ing the best talent to bear on classification Relntive Iltdcx, are sin~plicity, clarity, ex- problems would be: first, an arrangement pansibility, adaptability, economy and practical whereby the library associations may act as utility. intermediaries between special librarians and Wherein lies the difficulty for the special the classification authorities ; second, a way of librarian? Not in simplicity nor in clarity; testing proposed changes and reaching a final these have probably reached their maximum decision for or against them; and finally, a in the Dewey system, although some may enter means of meeting the necessary expenses. the same claim for the Library of Congress. For elaboration on this outline, consider Economy in usc depends on the user. Allow- again the imaginary library in a petroleum ing for this personal factor, economy is well refit~ery The librarian, through much pains provided for in both systems. and labor, has arrived at definite ideas as to The difficulty is in the expansibility and how certain classes should be expanded (665.4 adaptability-not because either classification and 665.5 in the Dewey system or TP685 to lacks these features, but because both possess TP6g5 in the Library of Congress system). them in super-abundance. Practical utility, He submits these ideas to the classification which is a summation of all the desired char- committee of his library association. The acteristics, is limited because these two quali- committee submits them, with recommenda- ties have no apparent limit. tions for action, to Dewey's publishers or the Suppose we have a rapidly growing library Classification Division of the Library of Con- in the research laboratory of a petroleum re- gress. finery The chemical technology of petroleum These may find that the classes have already recelves honorable mention in Dewey's latest been expanded since the latest printing of edition, but not much more. It is slightly their classificatior~s. In any case, the pro- better treated in the Library of Congress posals as submitted should receive due con- classification, and better still in the expanded sideration, and from all available material Dewey classification for chemical technology an expansion should be drawn up. On all prepared by the International Institute of questions where the advice of petroleum ex- Bibliography. But none of thesc will carry the perts is needed, the librarian who asked for classifier of the petroleum library very far. help should be prepared to, make the neces- What shall the librarian do? He has at sary consultations and contribute the results hand a system (Dewey or Library of Con- to the work as it progresses. gress) capable of almost infinite expansion, When an expansion has been made jn the but how shall he expand it? Will his choice classes concerned, it should be tested in the of sub-classes be the best possible? Will he library from which the rcquest originated, and subdivide too minutely or not enough so? in as many other libraries of the same kind 324 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5 as possible. If practical experience indicates between the advance of human knowledge and that changes are needed, those which are pro- the advance of classification systems; that posed should go through the same channels which will not be known until tomorrow can- of consideration. When an expansion is ac- not be classified today. But knowledge is in- cepted as final, it should be a part of the next creasing so rapidly that the lag has bccome printed edition of the classification. It lnight too great. If we who use classifications will even be feasible to issue a loose leaf edition, work together with those who make them, we as is clone by the United States Patent Office. may yet be able to catch up and take our For g~eatcsteffectiveness, both the Ameri- propcr place in the procession. can Library Association and the Special Li- Acknowledgements are due to Miss Grace braries Association should participate. The Manning, general librarian, and to Dr. H. L. duties of their classification committees under Trumbull, Rcsearch Laboratory (both of the this plan would include : inviting librarians B. F. Goodrich Co.) for suggestions and to submit their problems and suggestions; criticisms in thc prcparation oE this paper. transmitting such problcms and suggestions with the committee's own recommendations, IV. to the classification authorities; and guidance The Operation of a Technical Specialized of tentative expansions through the stages of Library testing, revision and final adoption. By Mrs. Pyrrha S. Caferata, librarian Port- As for Dewey's publishers and the Library land Ce~ncizt Association, Chicago, Ill. of Congress Classification Division, consider- ation of properly sanctioned proposals would In spitc of the fact that the first portland seem to be quite within their province. If they cement was manufactured in England a cen- should deem it necessary to charge a reason- tury ago, it was not until 1872 $at the industry able fee for parti.cular services, the library was started in this country In that year a which requests help should be both able and plant was established in Pennsylvania, and willing to pay for what it receives. in a short time various other plants opened This plan, if properly carried out, would in different sections of the country. These bring up for attention the classes most in mills operated with the most primitive type need of expansion. It would give every prob- of machinery, and it was a number of years lem oT expansion the benefit of advice from before any marked development was noticed. experts both in classification and in the par- By 1902 mills in the eastern part of the ticular specialty involved, and it would avoid states were producing portland cement on wasteful duplication of effort. It would re- rather a large scale, and in that year "In PUP quire work ; but every worth-while advance is suance to the following call: open to that objection. It would require some "The undersigned, manufacturers of publicity, in order to get librarians sufficiently portland cement, recognizing the fact that interested to submit their problems and ideas. the present methods of handling the sub- This requirement could be easily met by an- ject of "Sacks" are almost universally nouncements in the Library Jowrnal and in unsatisfactory, and believing that the SPECIALLIBRARIES, and in the A LA Bulletin. questlon can be profitably discussed and a Improven~entsin classification, as well as satisfactory plan evolved at a meeting of other advances in the work of special libra- the representatives of the Eastern Mills, ries, would be greatly facilitated if such or- hereby pledge themselves to attend such a ganizations as the Technology Group of the meeting to be held at such a time and Special Libraries Association, with its commit- place as may be most convenient to a tees on special subjects, could be so extended majority of those signing." that librar~ans in special subjects (dyes, the organization which has developed into metallurgy, rubber, organic chemicals, etc.) the Portland Cement Association of today could get together once or twice a year for came into being. There were many problems little meetings of their own. Various starts of mutual interest to the manufacturers. have been made in this direction; they should Many questions could be solved through co- be encouraged as much as possible. operation. Here was a product that could Whether by the plan here proposed or by be adapted to endless uses in the construction some other, something should be done to speed field. The manufacture of this product was up the progress of classification. In the na- a pioneering proposition. Machinery had to ttre of the case, there must always be a lag be developed to permit production on a large 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 325

scale in order to operate economically and of the technical library. Year in and year out markets had to be opened up to take care of it colIects, classifies and indexes all the mate- the mcreased production. People had to be rial available on the subject in which it spe- educated as to the things portland cement cializes. The results of those years of pains- would do, and how best to use it. taking worlc are instantly available to anyone An~ericanbusiness me11 long ago recognized by simply maklng his wants known to the the value of co-operation in the development technical librarian. Such a storehouse of in- of an induslry, because through co-operation formation is the PortIand Cement Association it is possible to carry on research arid promo- L~braryat Chicago which has been established tion that individual companies would be unable since 1916 to serve the manufacturers and to uudertalce Through the lrade association users of cemcnt. Our resources today con- it is possible to distr~buteinfortnation brought sist of approximately thirty-five thousand out from intensive research activities so that books and pamphlets on the subjects of ce- the buy~ngp~iblic secures valuable assistance mcnt and concrete construction and represent In the way oE basic lcnowledpe and service. the only public library in existence on this In fact, research, promotion and education are material. Our card catalog contams over one the three important fattors in marlcct expan- hundred and three thousand analytical entries. sion contributed by the modern trade associa- We handle annually between fifteen thousand tion and twenty thousand inquiries, which range With the development of ncw markets for all the way lrom a telephone call answered portlancl cenlent and increased production, the ilnn~ccliately to rcscarchcs requiring several Portland Cement Association naturally ex- days LO complete. panded. Today there is a General Office in Any technical library, in order to do val- Chicago and district offices in twenty-nine uable and beneficial work, should be in charge cities in the United States and one in Canada of a trained librarian who is piimarlly a cata- Member companies represent about go per cent. loger. The stall whether large or small should of the cement production of the United States, be well educated in a gcneral way and library while there are rncmber companies operating trained i1 possible. It has been my experience plants in Canada, Cuba, Mexico and Soul11 that a small staff, either trained or untrained, America. A research laboratory is maintained handles the worlc more effectively that1 does by the association jointly with Lewis Insti- a largc stafl. If a librarian is unable to secure tute, Chicago, where some forty people devote trained help, he or she should look for certain their efforts to bringing out facts about the definite traits in assistants, the two important use of concrete. Information developed in the ones being alerlness and accuracy. A techni- laboratory is distributed free of cost to con- cal l~traryshould iurtherqore be organized as crete users everywhere through lectures, bul- an active branch of the business, have its letins, magazine articles and through personal own budget and report directly io the gen- contact of association engineers working from eral manager or the chief executive. various offices. Specialization in any line calls for the use Promotion work is handled by various of all kinds of material such as books, bureaus of the General Office which specialize pamphlcts, current and bound periodicals, in diffcrent phases of concrete construction. trade catalogs, clippings, photographs, lantern Intensive field promotion is dircctcd by our slides, financial services, patents and maps. various district offices and their forces. Our The preparation of this vast amount of mate- avowed purpose is to improve and extend the rial for circulatiotl and reference use varies uses of concrete. largely according to the type of library. All I have made this explanation of our asso- of our material, regardless of what shape ciation in order to show the extent of the it is in, circulates. Temporary charging slips field covered by the Portland Cement Associa- are uscd for the trade catalogs, lantern slides, tion Library. Everyone engaged in technical photographs, financial services, patents and work of any kind has at various times urgent maps. All other material is circulated by the need for complete and authoritative informa- book card method. tion on subjects relating to his work. Usually All regular library records are kept but such information is wanted at once and those they are adapted to the use of this particular in need of it have neither the time nor the library. The accession record is kept on 3 x 5 facilities for gathering and classifying the cards filed numerically under the accession data they may require. That is the function number. This record shows author, title,. 326 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925 p~~blisher,place, date, department charge, price, under the subject pertaining to the cement order number, date the pnblication is received industry. A most striking example of needed and date the bill is received. Books including expansion In the application of Dewey's clas- bound periodicals, but excluding all gifts, are sification to the cemenl industry is shown in the only publicat~onswhich we accession. The classify~ng material on the wear tests of shelf list record IS kept for all bound material concrete, the effect of calciun~ chloride on which has a definite place on the shclf. This concrete and the use of gypsum in cement to record does not vary in any way from an regalatc thc setting time of concrete. I think ordinary shelf list card. you will agree with me that from the head- All of our pamphlet material is placed in ings listed aboxe, it is highly important for Gaylord blnders, classified, cataIoged and the librarian of any specialized collection to shelved the same as bound books. Our clip- work out a classification system which ac- pings from the technical press are neither curately meets the necds of his or her work. classified nor cataloged. A subject is assigned Our card catalog of over one hundred and to each clipping and it is placed in a manila three thousand analytical entries is, for the folder which carries the same heading. These most part, a subject catalog arranged alphl- folders are filed alphabetically under subject. betically. Practically no title cards are made, We permit these clippings to be removed from but author cards are made for all books and the file perinanen~lyif need be, and for this pamphlets n11d for such writers of magazine reason we do not make any charge record artlclcs as are known to be authorities on for this file. A sheet has been prepared for their subjects. Subject cards are made for the transmitting oi newspaper clippings be- all magazine articles of interest to the cement tween district offices - and between district industry. We aim on these cards to give the offices and General Ofice. These ncwspapcr subject, the location of the structure which clippings arc marked directly to the engineer is described, a brief abstract of the article, interested in the substance of thc clippinq. and the name of the magazine, the month, They are not returned to the library for filing year and the page number. The volume num- The trade catalog file consists of approxi- ber is omitted. All of our cards are typed in mately eight thousand different catalogs which black ink exceptmg the book numbers and the are of interest to the cement trade, either subject headings which are done in red. If from the standpoint of manufacture of the the main card in the catalog is the subject material, or from the standpoint of products card, and this is frequently the case when which can be made out of concrete. These cataloging magazine articles, an asterisk is catalogs are indexed under subjects and under placed at the leff hand corner of it to indi- trade names. Thc subjects and the trade cate this fact and to indicate to the file clerk names are placed on the catalog card in red that the tracings arc on the back of this ink. The rest of the card is written in black. card. Cross references are very plentiful The index for the trade catalogs is kept sep- both for subjects and for names and we use arate from the catalog for the general col- the "See" form Publications of the city, lection. Notations are made on these cards stgte and Federal government are entered very freely of consolidations of firms and of under the names of the persons who have firms which have gone out of business It is written them. The bureaus issuing such pub- highly important that your index of trade lications are treated as a series, that is, the catalog material should be a live, dependable entry under the bureau is a secondary entry one. We, of course, supplement the use of rather than a main entry. our trade catalog index by such directories as The classed catalog idea is carried out in Thomas' Register of American Manufacturers some of our subjects, and has proven to he and Hendrick's Commercial Register. most useful and successful. Instead, for in- Dewey's decimal classification is used for stance, of having garages, hotels, poultry all of our material which is classified, this houses, office buildings under each heading including for the most part pamphlets, books as given above, we make our subject head- and bound periodicals. The classification is ings : Buildings-Garages ; Buildings-Hotels ; done from the standpoint of use of the ma- Buildings-Poultry Houscs; etc., and in this terial in our library, vin., iE a pam6hlet is on way we keep all of our material on different a subject in which we are not especially in- types of building construction under the one terested, but contains a chapter or even less subject of Burldings, subdivided by the word on a subject of interest to us, it is classified wh~chindicates the type. The classed catalog October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 327 idea also takes care of our building codes, A catalog worked out on thls basis giyes road and bridge specifications. Two cards are our district engineers just one place in which madc out for cach building code and each to look for material whether it is magazlne road and bridge specification. These cards articles or correspondence. The technical work give the author, title, and date, together with on these cards consists of a subject heading, the book number which consists of the classi- the location of the structure, a* brief abstract fication number and Cutter number based on of the article, the name of the magazine, the the city or state wluch issucd the publ~cation. date of the issue and the page. A duplicate Onc carcl is filed as a shelf list card and the file of cards is kept in the library. oihcr is filed in the catalog under subject in- A list of magazines to which we subscribe stend oi under author, the subjects in these is kept alphabetically by title, and periodicals threc cases being building codes; road speci- are checked as soon as received, dated and lications ; bridge specifications. The arrange- stamped and prepared for mter-office circula- ment. of cards unclcr these respective subjects t~on. A charging slip is placed upon the upper is by author, the author of the building code right hand corner of the cover of each clr- being eill~cra city or a state and the author culdting magazine and gives the init~alsof the of tl~croad and bridge specificat~ons be1n.z persons to whom the magazlnc is to go with almost always a state highway department. the pages ~ndicated which they should read. This arrangement relieves us of rcsporisibillty We have made up on 3 x 5 cards a record of of filing cach one of our building codes, and the office circulation which 1s arranged alpha- our road and bridge specifications in its al- betically under the title of the magazine. This phabet~calplace in the catalog. These few lecord shows the comolcte- circulation of all citations will show you how we use both of our periodicals. In the event that members author, title, subject and classed catalog en- of ou~organization are out of town, the inter- tries. office c~rculationis restricted to persons whc Before I have thc question of cataloging, I are present. A "Whereabouts Record" is seni wish to say a little about one of the most daily to the llbrary by the switchboard opera- i~nportantduties of this library in the prepara- tor, and this record shows at a glance who 1s tion of catalog cards for our district engi- out of town, where he is and when he returns. neers and their field forces: All magazine In the meant~me, magazines are not sent to articles dealing directly or indirectly with our persons whose names appear on the "Where- industry are cataloged under subjects, multi- abouts Record." graphed and sent weelcly to our various diu When the magazine hss completed its office trict offices, thirty in number. Just as many clrculat~onroute, it is returned to the librav, sets ol cards are sent out as are required for cataloged and filed. We keep a card record the fieldmen in the various sections of the under the name of the magazine for each country. period~calwhich we catalog, and this record The subject headings made for these cards shows the Issue which has been cataloged and are based on subjects used in our corre- the date upon which the cataloging was done. , spondence file. For this reason, the subjects In this way, we are posted at all times as to do not correspond with the ones which are the progress of our technical work. Maga- used in the catalog of the library. The cor- zines are bound either every six months or respondence file consists of fifteen numbered every twelve months, depending upon the size subject class~ficationswth many subdivisions of the publication. Duplicate copies of all uilder each main heading. This arrangement periodical material are secured for persons gives each district ofice practically a classed des~ringto clip articles in current issues. This catalog, because the correspondence file head- arrangement leaves our file copies for the ings are such as the following: most part complete for binding. Bibliographies are made up on many diffcr- Railway Uses- Buildings en! phases of the cement industry, including Floors both cement manufacture and concrete con- Poles struction. The form of the bibliography is Track Structures practically standard, consist~ng of the title Structural Uses-Dams of the article, the name of the magazine, the Stucco month, the year and the page. If books are Swimming Pools listed, the author, title, place, publisher an3 Tanks date are given. These bibliographies are sent 3538 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5

to anyone who requests them. Copies which a copy is placed on the desk of each man In are filed in the library for reference use are our office. No distribution of this list is made arranged alphabetically under subject and are to the field forces or to the mcmber com- revised approximately every three months. panies. Foreign publications are included in our bib- Future expansion in the activities of the liographies, but we verify the article before libiary which I represent will follow not only listing lt if we do not subscribe to the maga- cement manufacture, concrete construction and zine their allied topics, but also architecture and Lantern slides are arranged first by bureau general engineering. It is our plan to build and under the bureau division they are filed up our collection on these two subjects to alphabetically by subject. The negatives are such an extent that architects and consulting arranged by bureau also and under that ar- engineers will look to our reference collec- rangement they are filed by number. A numer- tion for assistance in technical matters rathcr ical index is kept for all additions to the file. than to the reference departments of the sev- This shows at any time the total number of eral public libraries of this city. negatives because we make up from time to It is taken for granled that a technical 11- time as many slides from a given negative brary is provided with excellent working tools, as are necessary for our circulating sets. This such as directories, atlases, encyclopedias, material is loaned free to schools, colleges, handbooks, etc. In addition to regular ref- county agents, research workers and lecturers. ercnce tools with which you are all more or Practically speaking, no restriction is placed less familiar, the library of a given industry upon the return of this material as long as such as cement uses most frequently reports the slides are in active use. Follow-up letters of the various technical societies such as the are sent every three or four months to find American Society for Tcsting Materials, the out if the slides are still giving satisfactory American Concrcte Institute, the Amcticao service Ncw sets are sent out as rapidly as Society for Municipal Improvements, the the old ones are relurned to us. American Society of Civil Engineers, the Photographs are arranged in much the samc American Society of Mechanical Engineers, way as the lantern slides, first under bureau and several others. Somc 01 these society and then alphabetically by subjcct. They are procecdings are not found in public libraries, used largcly to illustrate publications of the but the special reference and research worker association and articles which are sent from cannot do complete work in an engineering the General Oflice to technical periodicals. It line without them. Reports of testing labora- happens not infrequently that they are used tories are also most vital in our field of work. to illustrate correspondence. Mention has earlier been made in this paper There arc kept on file in the library two of our connection with the Structural Mate- copies of all publications which are issued by rials Research Laboratory. the Portland Cement Association. These pub- An annual report showing the activities of ,lications vary ,in subject matter very materially this library is prepared each year and printed because they cover all angles of concrete con- in the Report of the General Manager which struction. It sometimes happens that three or is distributed to all the field forces and to four different editions of the same publica- the mcmber companies. This report shows tion are printed throughout the year. It is circulation, reference and attendance statistics, the duty of the l~braryto have on file two the number of bibliographies compiled and the copies of each edition of any publications number of inquiries which have been success- which have been published. You can readily fully answcred. Statistics for this report are see that the cataloging of so many editions compiled monthly in the library, and are places upon the cataloger a great deal of available for instant use if they are called for. responsibihty in keeping the individual edi- We do not issue a regular monthly report. tions separate and also in keeping track of In closing, I wish to say that the Portland changes in titles. Cement Association Library has become rec- In order to keep the General Office staff ognizcd as a dependable source of informatio~~, advised of new books and pamphlets which though its principal work is in serving the are received, the library issues every week, cement industry and the large force of field two weeks or once a month, as the case may representatives of the association. Having all be, a mimeographed sheet entitled "New Li- of this material available in one centrally brary Material." This list is annotated and located, easily accessblle library, the need for October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES

the costly duplication of all that work is done this end in 1876, they sent Henry Wickham away with. It is unnecessary ior the individ- (who had made a special study of varieties ual manufacturer to go to the expense of of wild rubber trees) to smuggle out crf gathering and classifying even such a rela- Brazil a ship load of selected hevca seeds. His ' tively litnited amount of material as will come effort was successlul and the seeds were to his attention. That work is accomplished rushed to Rew Gardens, England, and planted far bctter through a centralized library such there. A number of the seeds germinated and as thc onc whose activities I have endeavored plants were sent out by the government to to dcscribc to you. The Portland Cement As- Ceylon, India, Borneo and Malaya. For many sociation Library is an important asset to the years th~srubber tree, transplanted twelve entirc conslr~rclionindustry. thousand miles from its home in South America to the same latitude in Asia was re- v. garded only as a scientific curiosity to bc cul- The Vail Library: Its Operation and Pub- tivated in government gardens. licity, Mrs. Ruth Lane, Vail Librarian, Mas- Not until huge coffee and tea estates had sachusetts Institute of Technology. been destroyed by disease did local planters An informal talk not available for print. turn to rubber as a crop. By the year 1900, VI. however, planting on a large scalc was in Eorce. In addition great areas in the Dutch Talk Informal on Rubber East Indies and French Indo Chma were given 2331 Miss Elizabctlz may, libr-ariar~of Uitited over to rubber. England rewarded Henry States R~~bberCo. Wickham for his part in developing the plan- Crude rubber is ranked as the most in]- tation industry by making him a knight and portant and valuable vegetable product outside Sir Henry is still alive in London and still of the loodstuffs But t~nlike other great very much intcrested in rubber matters. As commodilics, such as wheat and cotton, which it takes from four to six years to bring a have been important for centuries, the devel- plantation into profitable bearing, this new opment of the rubber industry has all taken source of supply was ready when the auto- placc within the past eighty years. And of mobile began its metcoric career. this short timc, the last twenty years measure In the lace of far eastern competition the the greatest growth. The advent of the auto- wild rubber trade rapidly declined until it mobile was a signal for a race for rubber furnished only 5 per cent. of all the rubber because it is estimated that 80 per cent. of all used rubbcr consumed in America goes into auto- An important economic point to note in this mobile tires. transfer of the world's source of supply is Originally the entire supply of rubber came that the best rubber tree was taken from its from wild trees in the forests of South and home in a very thinly populated land and set Central America and Africa. There are many down in the midst of an almost incxhaustible hundreds of vines, shrubs and trees with a supply of labor. The availability of abundant milky sap or latex from which a sort of rub- cheap labor from India, Java and China has ber can be obtained. But the real producer of helped to account for the rapid rise of the our con~mercialraw rubber is the jungle tree plantation industry and has assured the pre- called Ilevea Brasiliensis which flourished in dominant position of cultivated rubber. Brazil. The whole history of crude rubbcr prices The upper Amazon Rivcr valley formerly whether wild or cultivated, has indicated a produced much of the finest wild rubber and tendency to a very wide swingmfromfeast to famine and back again. Much discussion has Up River Para and Fine Hard Para became hall-marks of quality as applied to this com- been caused by the sharp advance of the past modity. Para was the original port of ship- year from 17 cents a pound to the present price of over 70 cents a pound. During the ment and though later superceded, the name survives to this day to describe the finest speculative boom of 1910, rubber sold by the grades. pound for $3.12, while in 1922 the same grade That Brazil lost what was virtually a mo- brought only g cents a pound. nopoly of the crude rubber business was due Obviously such swings are unprofiable both to certain farsighted English traders who to producer and consumer. When the price recognized the ~ossibilitiesof producing rub- was lowest in 1922, many new estates Were ber in their own far eastern colonies. To brought into bearing for the first time and 330 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1ga5 this increase in supply coupled with a post- market, If the price goes above IS. 6d., 70 war curtailment of demand helped to depress per cent. of standard production is allowed and the market. As a result, no new planting was so on up to IOO per cent, production. All ex- undertaken to provide for the future and ports ill excess of these permissable amounts many old estates were forced to operate at are taxed so hcav~lyas to be really prohibitive. a loss and finally were abandoned altogether., Conversely, if the price declines exports are Great Britain through hcr colonies controls further restr~ctcdto 5; per cent., 50 pcr cent., about 70 per cent. of all the plantation rubber 4j per ccnt. and so on down the scale. produced and the continucd price depression The Brit~shrestriction plan has caused great in her best market had a serious and far concern to Atnerican 1nanufac:urers. The reachlng cffect. In November, 1922,the much balloon tire is responsible for an increascri talked of Stevenson plan of enforced restric- demand for raw material and stocks of rubber tion of export was adopted by her colonial have been greatly depleted. One effect of governments. This act might be called one of the plan has been to stimulaic interest in regulation rather than restriction, inasmuch making America indcpcndent of Brltish con- as ~tsobject was to stabilize prices to save the trolled rubber. Congress has provided funds existing plantation industry from ruin and for an investigation of the crude rubber sit- to attract new capital to provide for future uation with the object of determin~ng the increased demands. practicability of growlng rubber economically Briefly, the Stevenson act provides for a in the Philippines, South and Ccntral America standard production for each rubber estate and Mesico, and even in the United States. based on actual output of that cstate during Great cmphasls has becn laid ~iponthe neces- the year cnded October 31, 1g20, with due sity of attracting capital to new plantation allowance for production in new areas. The rubber enterpr~zesand to the continued sup- year is divided into quarters and the price port of existing companies and so it seemed of crude rubber in the preceeding quarter pcrtincnt, as my company has entered the regulates the amount which may be exported plantation field so exlensively, to show you during the next three months. If the average somc pictures of the operation of a rubber price per pound does not fall below IS. or estate. This company owns one hundred and rise above 1s. 3d., 60 per cent. of the standard fifteen thousand acres of land in Sumatra, production may be exported at a minimum D.E.1, and in British Malaya. The estate duty 01 approximately 2 cents a pound. If shown has seventy-five thousand acres under the average London selling price ranges be- cultivation. This particular development tween IS. 3d. and IS. 6d a pound in any covcrs seventy square miles or what equals quarter, 5 per cent. extra or a total of 65 per a strip of land one mile widc extending from cent, of rated production may be released for New York City to New Haven. Business Sessions Space will not permit a detailed report of under happy auspices at Swampscott at the the busisess sessions. The first general ses- New Ocean House, for its sixteenth annual sion was devoted to reports from the various conference, desires to express its grateful ap- officers and committees. These reports are preciation to the New England Library Clubs, presented in this issue. and especially to the Massachu:etts Library AL the fourth general session on Friday, Club, for the graclous invitation to meet here June 26, the reports of the various com- with them and for the hospitality and hearty mittees, local associations and groups were co-operation extended by then1 during every recelved and the officers elected for the forth- moment of our stay. coming year. Reference to this meeting has To the men and women who have brought to already been made in the July issue of SPE- us the conference messages of information CIAL LIBRARIES. and inspiration we give our gratitude and An adjourned business meeting was held request that the Secretary convey to each of on Friday evening and the following resolu- them our formal thanks for their assistancc tions of thanks were prepared by the Com- and friendliness. mittee on Resolutions. To the members of the committees of Spe- The Special Libraries Association meeting cial Libraries Association of Boston who have October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 331 rendered such efficient service in the manage- and enthusiasm manifested during the year ment oi the convention details we owe more just closed by the several local associations than we can express for the pleasure and and groups in their support of the Association, profit ol the sixteenth annual conference. and we welcome to our fellowship the new Througli their efforts the banner of special group of newspaper librarians and the neip library service and effic~encywill be further local assoelation of Chicago. carried forward. To thc General Electric Company we ex- To the members of the press, to the man- press our thanks for the preparation and ex- agement oi the New Ocean House, to individ- hibition of the film "Seeing, Special Libraries" uals known and unknown, too numerous to which gives us an opportunity to visualize the name here, who have showered us with quarters of so many special libraries in such courtesies and kindness, we extend sincere an effcctive way. thanks alld await opportunity to reciprocate. As individual members we extend sincere that~ksto the officers of the Association for the wise, constructive and progressive admin- istration of affairs in the critical situation which conironted us and we pledge to our new officers loyal support in their future ef- Mr. Handy expressed a strong desire to iorts lor us and our organized library inter- have the presidents of the local associations ests. represented at the Executive Board meetings We send fraternal greetings to the parent and requested local officers to express this library association of the world, the Anlerical~ opinion to their respective boards. Library Association, soon to meet on the A motion was passed that a registration Pacific coast, and we pledge our full co-opera- fee of $1.00 be hereafter charged at the con- tion in all possible affairs We congmtulate veut~ons for each person register~ng as a tlmn upon the selection they have made for special librarian. their next presiden~,our own staunch friend, An dormal discussion followed in relation Charles l?. D. Belden of Boston. to the printing of the proceedings and a mo- To Mr. I3 0. Brigham, of Providence, lion was passed that the lcad~ngpapers be editor of SPECIALLIBRARIES, we express our printed m SPECIALLIBRARIES from time to apprcc~ationof his successful efforts in vastly time and that the business proceedings and improving the value of the publication. group papers be printed in a supplement as We aclcnowledge with gratiiude the loyally soon as possible. Reports Secretary one remaining, namely Philadelphia, 1s a loyal and interested body but on account of a con- Report 1924-25 stitutional difficulty which seems impossible to The secretary is under great obligations to overcome at present, has not officially become the treasurer, Miss Petcrkin, who did prac- an afiliated body. All the groups have offi- tically all of the work for the Assoc~ation cially afiliated. during this year. There were several reasons, A summary of the activities of the local the chief being the great difficulties and groups may be of interest. All have monthly handicaps of sending material back and forth meetings from October through May and the by mail and the delays caused thereby. An- dinncr or luncheon meetings seem thc most other reason being. that ~t is almost impos- popular. The most popular subjects are: sible to separate the two offices as both re- Union List of Per~odicals,Directorics, Sources quire thc records for relerence. of informatiqn. The secretary attended four Executive The Los Angeles or Special Librar~esAsso- Board meetings and sent the minutes to all ciation of Southern California reports that members of the 3oard. $250 had been donated to print its list of peri- The local associations reporting to the sec- odicals. retary have been four affiliated ones and one The president of the Boston Special Libra- in process of formation, The one unaffiliated ries Association reports that she has con- 332 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

ducted a training class for special librarians l[r. Alcott, bindrng patn- and the. New York Public Library ScWol phlets ...... 5.60 gives a course of lectures for special llbra- Mr. Armistead, postage and folders ...... 20.00 riarls by specla1 librarians. Philadelphia has Printing advertising con- ,encouraged classes at a local high school. San tracts ...... 8.m Francisco and Pittsburgh, the newest local as- Tclcgraph and telcphoric sociations met at various l~brariesand San charges-editor ...... 49.96 Flowcrs ...... 4.91 Francisco IS collecting an information file of Printmg Special Libraries. . 1,649 27 research material as well as preparing a union P~~ntingreceipt pads...... 12.00 $2,586.09 list of periodicals. New York reports the largest membership, three hundred and thirty- thrce, and has just celebrated its tenth anni- versary at which it receivcd many expressions of encouragement and appreciation from exec- Editor of SPECIALLIBRARIES utives from business houses who have estab- Report 1924-25 lished libraries. The evolution of a local as- sociation seems to be (I) meetings at dlffercnt When President Handy suggested that I libraries to become acquainted (a) discussions accept the office of editor I assumed the task of subjects purely technical (3) division into with great reluctance and had I known the groups of committees (4) expansion of inter- amount of labor and physical energy required ests and outside speakers at meetings. to perform this duty, I feel sure that I would ESTELLEL. LIEBMANN have dcchned the editorship Yet, on the other hand, there has been a positive pleasure Treasurer in rebuilding the n~agazineand the writer is Report 1924-a5 grateful for the many pleasing comments that Receipts have been made from time to time by various members. Membership dues...... $1,727.27 Sales of handbook...... 614.28 A formal report is not the place for a dis- Sales of index...... 132.55 cussion of the various problems that have been Sales of directory...... 521 00 faced by the editorial staff during the past Advertising ...... 469.60 year, but throughout the period there has been Miscellaneous ...... 27.66 one underlying purpose followed-the pre- $3,492 36 sentation of information of interest to spe- Bank Balance, August, 1924. 615 68 cial librarians and to research workers, and for this purpose we have broadened the scope of the magazine beyond the mere routine of E.rpnditures library work. We have asked men of dis- Express on supplies...... tinction in the business world to write for us Printing handbook...... articles which In themselves command atten- Envelopes for handbook.. .. tion and we have also asked executives hold- Printing letterheads ...... Refund of duplicate pay- ing positions of responsibility to tell us about ments ...... the functions of a special library and its Publicity for handbook...... value. This method, we hope, has won friends Per capita A.L.A. assess- for the Association and given the magazine ment ...... Reporting I924 convention. . prestige, but above all we have tried to stress Stamps, envelopes, etc...... in every number loyalty to the Special Libra- Audit of books...... ries Association and all that it stands for. Editor's sundry expenses.. .. The magazine is growing and it is difficult Postage, membership and to keep within the allotted number of pages program committee...... Secretary's expenses...... which our financial limitations demand. Every Clerical work-lna Keith, month we lay aside several galleys of valu- Boston ...... able material for which there is no space. In Publicity-Membership com- mittee ...... order to improve the appearance of the maga- LC. Cards Method Com- zine and make it more readable we have mittee ...... printed the leading articles in IO-point type; *TOMay 31, 1925. October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 333

we have changed the capilons; used filler ma- financial success of the publication. The edi- terial to complete pages and have in every tor has worked hard to achieve results in this way striven to improve the typographical ap- field and in the eight numbers which have pearance of the publication. We have printed been issued under his supervision there have some attractive covers having a close relation been placed advertise~ne~ltsto the amount of to the particular issue. We have presented $657.50. The total advertising for the ten during the year special numbers on "Trans- issues since the last conference amounts to portation," "Libraries of Government," "Sta- $77750 The total amount for the previous tistical Interpretation and Insurance." Again ten issues was $136.00. There is no doubt limitations of space have prevented us from in the editor's mind that energetic solicita- giving the subject-matter proper scope. For tion of advertising will produce extraordinary that reason the Transportation issue did not results, but the least inattention to advertis- give adequate consideration to highway prob- ing will result in a shrmkage in income from lems and the Insurance number had to be that source. For exan~ple, the heavy per- confined to fire and casualty insurance. sonal duties of the winter months and the con- The editorial pages have been a source of clusion of certain contracts produced the small much pleasure to the editor and he regrets income of $59.00 for the month of April, but that the demand for space has forced him to intensive work in the months of May and June abandon temporarily "The Editor's Desk." created an income of nearly $2~.00for the We often include in the editorial columns two issues. a message from our president. Four times The future advertising appears very satis- during the year President Handy has given factory. Outstanding signed contracts amount us slgned communications and frequently the in volume to $379.00 and we have at least magazine contains unsigned editorials writ- twenty prospective clients who expect to con- ten by him. We especially commend the seven sider advertising contracts in the early fall. principles which he has set forth in the June In this connection our subscribers can help issue. us in no small degree: First, by notifying the The departments are a vital part of the advertiser that they have purchased an magazine and give it the personal touch which article after reading the advertisement in our every periodical shmld have in some form. magazine ; and second, by urging reputable At the outset the editor and associate edi- concerns to advertise in SPECIALLIBRARIES or tor were in sole charge of the magazine, but notifying the editor that a certain advertising as the need for supervision of the depart- account might be made available if it were ments became evident, various persons were properly sought. requested to serve upon the editorial staff. The future of the magazine rests in your Miss Rebecca B. Rankin assumed the depart- hands. We know its deficiencies far better ment called "Events and Publications," and than any of you, but with your help and sug- also took charge of the reports from the as- gestions we can make it a better magazine. sociations and Miss Margaret Wells became We want your criticisms and we also appre- responsible for the "Personal Notes." The ciate your commendation. As for the plans literature of business and of science caused for the future, we propose to issue special the creation of two departments alternating numbers from time to time, but for obvious with each other every month, the one edited reasons. we shall not announce these numbers by Miss Ethel Cleland entitled "The World at this time. We shall broaden our scope of Business Print" and the other entitled as occasion warrants, featuring the gathering "Sclence and Technology" edited by A. A. of fact information and the field of research. Slobod. Other departments, "Foreign Field," We have had strong co-operation from The "Library in Research" and the "Mail Bag" H. W. Wilson Co. and this statement should were largely the result of grouping material include Mr. Halsey W. Wilson, Mr. Leon coming into the office. Book reviews, in a Henry and the host of good people who arc department called "The Book Shelf," were in- known only to us by their initials on the serted three times during the year, but want proof. of space has prevented reviews of books re- The editor extends to the associat6 editor, cently received by the editor. Professor Henry H. Norris, and the members Advertisements are a vital part of the maga- of the editorial staff, Miss Ethel Cleland, Mr. zine and upon their insertion depends the R. H. Johnston, Miss Rebecca B. Rankin, Miss 334 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, rgig

Margaret Reynolds, Mr. A. A. Slobod and whole and by the numerous committces Miss Margaret Wells, deepest thanks for their appointed by the president. assistance and for the many helpful sugges- "For further information as to the As- tions received from them. sociation please return the enclosed I have also received much valuable aid postal." from my secretary, Miss Mabel G. Johnson, So far eighty replies asking for further in- and from one othcr person who, during the formation as regards the activities of the entire year has taken part in the preparation Special Libraries Association have been re- of the magazine. I refer to a former active ceived by the president of your Association. member of the Association-my wife. The new members procured by this method I cannot conclude this report without a ref- have paid for the issuing of the circular and erence to the unfailing courtesy and kind- we have the names of 'eighty persons whose ness of our president, Daniel N. Handy. interest we can arouse and thereby oppor- Through the magazine acquaintanceship has tunity presents itself to bring into the Asso- ripened into fricndship and by written com- ciation persons possessing business interests munications, by conference and by counsel, that will greatly aid the work your Associa- he has helped to make the magazine what it is. tion aims to do. In spite of his manifold professional, per- Beginning with the first of the year the sonal and official duties, at a critical time he committee issued in monthly succession four assumed the entire charge of the magazine leaflets of a size to slip into a business en- and produced the noteworthy Insurance num- velope. The first used was Miss Rankin's ber. article on "The Beginnings and Achievements HERBERT0. BRIGKAM, of S.L.A" reprinting it from the September Editor. issue of SPECIALLIBRARIES. It also carried the names of the officers of the Association and of the local associations and groups. Twelve Membership Committee hundred were printed and distributed through Report 1gq-a5 the local associations, the officers of which worked in hearty co-operation. The second It was decided to circularize the Statistical leaflet dealt with the organization of the News- Society of America and the American Trade paper Group, and nearly the whole edition of Association of Executives in so far as the seven hundred and fifty copies was distributed fund appropriated to the committee would by that group, which bore the expense of the allow and accordingly the following pamphlet postage The third leaflet of twelve hundred with a return postal was sent to five hundred copies gave two answers to the question, persons of these societies. "Why a Conference of Special Librarians?" "Has your attention ever been the answers having been given by President called to the Daniel N. Handy and Mr. Edward D. Green- man, assistant director of the New York State Bureau of Municipal Government. These also were distributed through the local associations. The fourth leaflet used the "A group of men and women who are same matter with a different title, which was assistants to executives of corporations, "Why Hold a Conference of Newspaper Li- companies and firms, giving constructive brarians?" It was addressed to the manag- information, statistics and literature most ing editors of newspapers, and this also was essential to the successful carrying on of distributed by and at the expense of the News- the business employing ,them. paper Group. "This Association is in its fifteenth year Through the co-operation of the local asso- and has successfully issued a magazine ciations and the Newspaper Group in paying pertaining to business libraries and the postage, the work was done within the ap- many ramifications of their duties. propriation of $50. "You are most cardially invited by the If the proper material could be secured for Executiv~Committee of the Association all other groups in the Association, it would to join in the constructive work now be- seem to be good practice to continue the ,is- ing carried on by the Association as a suance of the leaflets. October, 1ga5 SPECIAL LIBRARIES

Your committee suggests that $75 be ap- to members of the Association who wish to propriated to this committee in order to per- investigate the topic, and in this form it can mit it to continue circularizing the societies be discussed, critiaed, revised and made mentioned and in order to follow up the re- ready for final presentation in that far-off sults gained by issuing the circular Manual of Library Practice. We also have a study of "Reference and Research Work9' prepared along similar lines by Miss Eleanor Cavanaugh. The committee LEWIS A. ARMISTEAD,Chairman. is under deep obligations to Niss Cavanaugh June 24, 1925. for submitting this report in the midst of all her other duties this year. The study covers only New York City. Methods Committee It will be enlarged to cover practice in other Report 1924-25 localities and a similar investigation is being carried on in Chicago now. The study in its The Committee on Methods is very glad of final form should also have a bibliography a renewed opportunity to present its work be- and additional forms and should probably go fore the assembled n~embershipof the Special quite thoroughly into the question of the ex- Libraries Association, tent to which references librarians do actual Last year we announced the organization of research work local subcammittees in five centers; Boston, Considerable preliminary work has been Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Los done both in Chicago and Boston on the sub- Angeles. Each group was asked to collect in- ject of caving for pamphlebs, mimeographed formation, in addition to that already obtained material, etc, ilt files ad on shelves. It is in our questionnaires, on specific topics as- expected that the work of these two commit- signed them; to prepare studies and to be tees can be combined and a report submitted ready to give authoritative information to in- during the coming year quirers on these topics. In Philadelphia, the subcommittee (Miss It is a regret to have to report that in some Keller, chairman) having the subject of of these centers, our work has rather fallen "Classification and Cataloging," has its work down this year, owing almost entirely to ill- well organizod and possesses a strong per- ness or over work among the personnel of sonnel. The committee is undertaldng a com- the committees. It must be remembered that prehensiye bibliography to include everything we are attempting to do, on a smaller scale in the United States on library classifications of course, through volunteer service, what our in print. As a nucleus, they have acquired sister organization is paying a large staff to about three hundred and fifty Library of accomplish. Congress cards, covering all the entries in the However, progress has been made. ,In the Library of Congress and in addition consid- first place, the general committee is working erable searching has been done in library and on a tentative outline of topics which could trade publications. The committee also has be included in a Manual of Special Library begun a collection of classifications, both in Practice, and a list of persons who will be- print and in manuscript, used in various types come responsible for such topics. of special Ilbraries. These will be available We have in hand a study of "Periodical for loan to investigating librarians. Such Checking and Routing Practices," prepared by classifications as the committee has collected Mrs. Bruer of A. W Shaw and Miss Lottie are on exhibit at this meeting. This is pioneer Ingram, Abbott Laboratories, both of Chi- work and the committee deserves the assist- cago. This report is available for inspection ance of all Special Libraries Association mem- on application to Miss Keller. It embodies bers in its labors. the ideas of the committee for the make-up Certain studies of sources now in hand of a tentative report on each topic. It pre. made by mcmbers in Washington will be sents a text commenting on and discussing used in the study on research work. present practices and it includes mounted Other topics assigned include forms grouped to illustrate the points of the text and a selective bibliography. The whole 1. The technique and routine of making forms a helpful study which can be loaned bibliographies. 336 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

2. Publicity. An excellent outline for gether and labeled with comment sufficient this study has been prepared by Miss Mary to make their uses clear. Day. It is possible that the reports will prove a 3. Filing of maps and charts. greater scrvice in this form than printed in a manual, for they would thus yield them- 4. General care and storage of periodi- selves to morc frequent revision and where cals. necessary, photostat copies could be made. In formulating its tentative reports the com- The committee needs pcrmancnt members mittee aims to secure on most of the topics who will undertake such studies and who, in a body of information on actual methods in addition will have a live, continuing interesl general use and as far as possible present in their topics, people who will study prob- this in such form that librarians can secure lems with a view to formulating standards and from it an idea of the comparative merits developing simple, adaptable methods and and demerits of various practices and their forms, thus minimizing unnecessary experi- value in time and cost to different types and mentation and saving the time of busy libra- sizes of libraries. rians. It is a place, we assure you, for those who wish to do constructive helpful work. This information will be secured: first, from Any criticism ol the committee's plan for the questionnaires returned; second, from studies, any suggest~onsfor topics or of people later detailed reports on specific libraries and qualified to undertake them, will be gratefully third from observation of experienced libra- rians. received by the committee. The committee mounted and forwarded for Accompanying this report will be a bib- display at this meeting a large collection of liography selective but sufficiently complete to sample forms in its possession. Many of these include everything worth-while. Sources of were received with the questionnaires and references will be Iibrary magazines for the shown two years ago at Atlantic City but a last five years with occasional earlier items, large number have been added since. They if valuable; professional or business maga- are arranged under seventeen different topics. zines ; standard texts having good practical Thi3 1s a lending collection and any part of treatment of the topics and any published or it may be borrowed by members of the Spe- manuscript studies available. cial Libraries Association on payment of Where feasible, illustrative material will ac- carrying charges. Please remember also that company the report. This will include only the committee is glad to have its collection the best and most practical forms and blanks augmented by your forms. Send them with collected from libraries where they are giving full explanations and name to the chairman. actual service. These will be mounted in such a way that they can be easily circulated or Respectfully submitted, displayed, with comparable material put to- RUTH G. NICHOLS,Chairman,

Survey Committee Special Report the permanent progress of the Association, A1 the annual convenlion of the Special Li- this being amply demonstrated during the past braries Association in 1924 the question arose year and more especially by the valuable num- as to the continued independent existence of bers issued by its organ SPECIALLIBRARIES. the Association, and it was " moved and sec- It is inevitable that our Association in order onded that a committee of five be appointed to grow staunchly must grow slowly. The by the new president to bring in a report at American Library Association at the begin- the next annual meeting on the condition of ning of its fifteenth year had enrolled a total the Special Libraries Association and as to its of 939 although there are no records showing future program ." how many- were actually members at that year, It is the opinion of the committee appointed but in 1924 the total enrolled membership had by President Handy under this resolution that reached 1z,go3 although the actual member- the questions raised at the last annual mect- ship was 6,055 or less than one-half of the ing were incidental rather than intrinsic to total enrolled membership. The Special Lii October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 337 braries Association kceps no cnrollcd mem- The committee, therefore, feels that we must bership record but its membership on the o~-proceed by degrees in the future as we haw casion of its fifteenth annual meeting is 623. in the past and that the Associat~on and its These statistical comparisons are, yf course, membership are fully equal to the task of most unsatisfactory evidences of progrcss to carrying on the standards set and maintained an Association whose accomplishments havc in the past. been so often referred to as have our own Accordingly your committee feel that the but make a ready appeal to those to whom the unrest of last year has entirely subsided and Intangible is so often the unintelligible. It is that the emergency, if such it may be termed, well also to bear in mind that our mother or- is now over and begs to be relieved of further ganization progressed until about 1909 with- duty, out an executive officer devoting his entire time to her interests and that we havc man- Respectfully submitted, aged hitherto with volunteer help is no less a compliment to our officers, from Guy E. Marion down to Estelle L. Liebmann than it was to Melvil Dewey and his successors in CHARLESA. CHAMBERLAIS the American Library Association. RICHARDH. JOHNSTON, Chairman

Associations, 1924-25

Owing to the limitation of space, the reports Chicago of the local associations made at the Swamp- scott conference will appear in condensed A petition was received from librarians in form. Complete copies of the papers are on the vicinity of Chicago for recognition as a file wi,th the secretary of the Special Libraries local association representing Chicago and Association. vicinity. During the conference this associa- tion was granted such recognition under the authority of section 10 of the constitution. Boston This association was afterward organized as the Illinois Chaptcr. During the year 1924-25 the Special Llbraries Association of Boston has held seven regular New York meetings and one joint meeting with the Massachusetts Library Club, at which there The following groups held regular meetings has been an average attendance of fifty. Each during the year. These meetings consisted for meeting has been preceded by a supper, at two the most part of visits to other libraries in of which a round table for the discussion of .the same group. Financial, Miss Burnett, library problems has been satisfactorily tried chairman, eight visits; Technical, Miss out. Mitchill, chairlizalt, eight visits ; Civic, Miss A training course of twelve lessons has Clement, cltairn~nn,visit to the City Planning been conducted by the president. Exposition held in New York City. The third edition of the Directory of Spe- During (he year the secretary mailed a cial Lzbraries in Bostou and Vicinity (Febru- questionnaire to each member of the associa- ary, 1925) and a membership list (January, tion asking what sort of programs they wished ' 1925) have been issued. to have the associatio~lplan dur~ng[he coming year and also for suggestio~lsas to what they The Registration Committee has filled two permanent and three temporary positions. felt could be accomplished by the members in the way of worth-while work, and something ' The experiment of an official publication, that would be a credit to the association and The Shock Absorber, started in November. a help to thc members. In answer to this Six numbers havc now been issued. some very constructive and valuable sugges- The present membership is one hundred and tions were received. Thcse suggestions will eighty-six, of which twenty-three are members be carrled out as far as possible during the of the*Special Llbraries Association. year 1925-26. -.

338 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

The secretary and the president have national organization. Since then monthly brought together many times during the year lunchcons have been held, visiting librarians firms looking for a llhrarian and the librarian entertained, and practical problems d~scussed. looking for a position. The associatioh has undertaken to compile On two occasions the president has been a union list of periodicals to be found on file requested by firms wishing to organize a li- in the San Francisco special libraries and re- brary to help them with their plans for in- search bureaus. This list is well under way stalling a library and in finding a librarian to and will be finally placed, when completed, in run the department. the Chamber of Commerce Information Some half dozcn very gratifying and com- Bureau. plimentary letters on Special Libraries and The association also acts as a clearing house their efforts were sent to the president by of information for all research worltcrs in the officials of local banks and business houses city, and as an employment bureau. Our akt maintaining special libraries, on the occasion is to interv~eworganizations who are consider- of the tenth anniversary of the local associa- ing establishing a library and persuade them, tion. whenever possible, to place a trained librarian Pittsburgh in charge. At the last meeting, Mrs. C. L. Willems, of The P~ttsburghAssociation has completed a the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce In- satisfactory and successful year The associa- formation Bureau, was appointed Hospitality tion held monthly meetings from October to Chairman to take care of any visiting libra- April and in addition a special meeting for the rians who might stop off at San Francisco on purpose of hearing an address by Mr. E. H. their way to or from the Seattle meeting. McClrlland on "Printing Processes." Miss Ferguson, president of the local asso- The following committees assisted in carry- ciation, statcs that the chapter is in its in- ing forward the year's work: Program, Mem- fancy, and that'there is much work ahead of bership, Publicity, Directory of Information, it, but she feels confident, that with the,sound and Union Periodical List. foundation laid down by this year's work The Dtrectory of Ir~.font~ationis expected and the strong fceling of loyalty and CO- to prove a useful tool, listing all special col- operation that exists among all its members, lections of any importance in the Pittsburgh ~t will grow in efficiency and usefulness. district The committee rcports the work well under way, questionnaires having been sent out to companies, schools and institutions, and to Southern California individuals, asking for information About their library resources, whether large or small, to The Special Libraries Association of South- whom available, name of person in charge, ern California held nine meetings through the etc. As much of this must depend on personal. year 1924-25,the most noteworthy being the investigation before a useful mailing list is meeting at the Barlow Medical Library in compiled, the work has necessarily been rather November, the meeting at the Southwest MU- slow. seum in January and the meeting at the LOS The union periodical list is well under way Angeles Chamber of Commerce in April. The also, and the committee hopes to have it ready May session was held in the Club Rooms of for printing or mimeographing shortly. This the Southern California Edison Company. list will give complete information as to peri- Business meetings were held during the year odical resources of Pittsbqrgh special libra- devoted to the union periodical list. The ries. following committees were active during the year : Union List, Methods, Publicity, Direc- San Francisco tory, State Meetings. The main work of the year has been the completion of the union In October, 1924, thirty-five librarians and periodical list and has been quite worth-while. research workers gathered at a luncheon at The list is now about ready for publication the States Restaurant to organize a Special and it is hoped that this will be accomplished Libraries Assocration and to affiliate with the beforc the September meeting. October, 1915 SPECIAL LIBRARIES Editor's Desk Attention is called to two library vacancies. The valuable address by Miss Eleanor Cav- For parliculars see our advertising columns. anaugh on "Some Sources of Information on *** Stocks and Bonds" will be printed as an In- "Advertising Notes," which appeared in the formation Bulletin July issue of SPECIALLIBRARIES, has been re- * * * printed in broadside form for distribution among advertisers Any member desiring The Bridge (official organ of the Credit copies of this leaflet for use is urged to com- Union National Exterision Bureau) for July, municate with the editor. 1925, contains a half column article entitled I** "Librarians Discuss Credit Unions." This article mentioned the S L.A , particularly the We regret the non-appearance of the extra Financial Group. number of SPECIALLIBRARIES which was an- * * * nounced in the July issue, but circumstances beyond the control of the editor prevented its The July issue of Inspection News, which is issuance. Delay in receiving copy and sum- a monthly published in the interest of em- mer vacations may be cited as causes. ployees and inspectors of the Retail Credit *** Company, Atlanta, contains an article on In preparing the list of officers for the "Convention of Special Libraries Association" July issue Miss Rose M. Vormelker, secre- by Elizabeth Hanner, the librarian of the tary of the Technology Group was credited to Retail Credit Company, who attended the the Cleveland Public Library instead of the Swampscott meeting. White Motor Company. We regret the error * * * which has been corrected in this issue. Office Mallagewent for July notes that *** nearly every office has a specla1 vocabulary of We received numerous offers of assistance frequently recurring names of persons and in connection with advertising at the Swamp- places, raw materials, trade and technical scott Conference, but we cannot trace a single terms and othcr items which are not listed new account in the current issue to this source. in ordinary dictionaries, so that a new em- *** ployee is required to rcfer personally to a Through the courtesy of Miss Elle May superior officer for information and spelling. Genung, a former associate editor of SPECIAL A comprehensive manual is suggested, either LIBRARIES,the editor has received over sixty in hook form or on cards, containing defini- earlier copies of the magazine. As we were tions and enabling the employee to bccome bet- obliged to draw upon the office file to com- ter acquainted with his job plete the gift sent to our British confreres *** the copies were especially welcome. We hope The September issue of the Stone & Web- that other members possessing odd copies of ster Jozmal presents an article by George W. the out-of-print issues will follow Miss Lee, librarian, entitled "Everyman a Libra- Genung's esample. rian." Mr. Lee wishes this phrase adopted *** as a slogan and in a most readable article For some time the editor has been planning describes the experiences of a librarian in a new department which will interest many searching for the elusive and for the un- membgrs of the Association. In November known. Mr. Lee makes an interesting refer- this department will make its appearance un- ence to the publication of the Dennison hffg. der the title "We Do This " It will contain CO. The Library Reuiezv, quoting from it- all sorts of odd items, valuable suggestions Mr. Lee also denotes the facilities of the and original ideas from our members. The Stone & Webster library for "short circuiting department will be in charge of Miss Mar- many a cluestion," and brings out the value garet Reynolds, who for many years has been of "Sponsorships for Knowledge" He also a valuable member of the editorial staff. She discusses other subjects, "Everyday English," would appreciate any items for this depart- "Reading Lists," "Book Buying" and many ment which may be sent to her at the First others. The article should be read to be aP Wisconsin National Bank, Milwaukee, Wis. preciated. SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, 1925

Our British Confreres

We recently received a provisional pro- thcse volumes will augment this amity. gram of the Library Association Con- Miss Rankin's paper will be printed in a ference to be held -at Birmingham, Etlg- later edition of the magazine. land from September 14 to 18. Among the * * * speakers for Tuesday, September 15 is Arthur As this heavy issue of SPECIALLIBRARIES F. Ridley, librarian, British Non-Ferrous passes through the press the following letter Metals Research Association and honorary comes to Prcs~dent Handy: secretary, Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux. Ilr. Douglas F Twiss, 29th September, 1925. chief chemist, Dunlop Rubber Co. and Mr. L Stanley Jast, chief librarian, Manchestcr Pub- Daniel N. I-Iandy, Esq., lic Libraries, will discuss Mr Ridley's paper. Assurance Library Association, On Thursday, September 17, Mr. C. R. Sander- Boston, Mass son, librarian, Reform Club, London will lead U. S. A a paper on "The Value of Official and Parlia- mentary Publications." Dcar Mr. I-Iandy: "I discharger1 my pleasant duty of prescnt- ing the Edition of SPECIALLIBRA~IES to the On September 25 to 28 the Association of Confcrcnce at Oxford on Saturday. The gift Spcclal Librarics and Information Bureaux was received with considerable display of held its second conference at Balliol Col- warmth and I am certain that the information lege, Oxford. An interesting program has contained in the books is going to be of great been prepared and Miss Rebecca B. Rankin, use, and will be much appreciated by the mem- assoc~ateeditor of SPECIALLIBRARIES has pre- bers of the Association. pared a paper to be read at the conference en- You will, I know, receive official notification titled "The Specla1 Library Movement in of the pleasure wh~ch the reading of your America." cablegram afforded the members of the As- During the conference Mr. Thomas Coulson, sociation, and the resolution of thanks which foreign manager of Library Bureau, pre- was passed It was a splendid meeting, and sented on behalf of the Special Library Asso- the mere fact of having the American Asso- ciation a set of SPECIALLIBRARIES which has ciation represented there, added to the pleas- been especially bound in attractive morroco ure of the members . . ." and conveyed to England by special messenger. With kind regards, Since the formation of the British associatioi~ Yours sincerely, friendly relations have existed between the (Signed) T. COWLSON two organizations and the presentation of Manager, Library Department.

Exhibit Activities

Various grotips of the Special Libraries As- Chapter with the Illinois Chamber of Com- sociation are working actively in connection merce. Everyone of these exhibit under- with certain commercial associations estab- talc~ngsare of permanent value to the Associa- lishing exhibits and in other ways forming tion closc contact of mutual benefit. The Financial Atlantic City Group are thus allied with the American The Financial Group of the Special Libra- Bankers Association, the Technology Group ries Associat~onwill again hold an exhibit in with the American Gas Association, the conncction with the American Bankers As- Boston Association with the Associated In- sociation at the annual convention to be held dustries of Massachusetts and the Illino~s at Atlantic City the wcek beginning Monday, October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES 341

September 28. The exhibit is being placed Hummer, presidemt of the Illinois Bankers with the co-operation of the American Bankers Association, general chairman of the Exposi- Association and the courtesy of the Standard tion, and with Mr. Spearman Lewis, manag- Statistics Company, Moody's Investors Serv- ing director. ice, J. P. Morgan and Company, Ruhn, Loeb and Company and the Bankers Trust Com- The main idea of the chapter is to help the Illinois Chamber of Commerce td "sell' pany. The readers of SPECIALL~RARIES will recall the success of the exhibit held at Chi- Illinois." They plan to make the space allotted to them work overtime, with someone on the cago in the fall of 1924. A* full report of the Atlantic City exhibit will be given in the job all of the time to give out facts an3 information and show what the special library November issue. is and does. In short, to give ready reference if the material is at hand, or if the questions Chicago asked require more thorough research, the information will be 'serrt later. The Illinois Chapter of the Special Libraries Association recently organized in the city of As plans are completed, reference material, Chicago, will establish an Information Booth books, business services, pamphlet and clip- at the second annual Illinois Products Ex- ping files will be installed. In other words, position to be sponsored by the Illinois the working tools of the specidl library will Chamber of Commerce which will be held at be shown "In action!' the American Exposition Palace (American The Illinois Chapter hopes that special li- Furniture Mart) from October 8 to 17, 1925. brarians not as yet affiliated with it will help In this manner the group will make its through this information service to boost the debut before the public in a most practical IlIinois Chamber of Commerce and the way and will co-operate with Mr. Wayne Illinois Ptoducts Exposition.

Local Associations Illinois Future meetings will occnr as follows : Oc- The Illinois Chapter of the Special Libraries tober 26, as guests of the Boston Elevated Association was established on September I. Railway, in the afternoon at the Everett Shops The first meeting was held in Chicago on that and in the evening at thc library, 39 St. Janm date and constitution and by-laws adopted. Avenue. November 23, reception to C I?. D. The officers elected are as follows: Belden, president of the ALA. and director Pyrrha 13. Sheffield, librarian of the Port- of the Boston Public Library. January 22, land Cement Association, Chicago, president; joint meeting with other hlassachusetts li- Miss Charlotte G. Noyes, l~brarian, of the brary clubs, at the State House. W, A. Gilchrist Library, Chicago, vice-pres- ident; and Miss Jennie Schram, Illinois Power and Light Corporation, Chicago, secretary and treasurer. Virginia The Virginia Library Association plans its Boston fall meeting at Winchester, October 11, 15 and As SPECIALLIBRARIES progresses to the press 16. The catalogers of Maryland, Virginia and S.L.A.B. is holding its first meeting with a and District of Columbia will meet with the supper at the famous restaurant of Durgin, Virginia Library Association. It is expected Park Sr Co and the evening meeting at the that Honorable Harry Byrd, Govesnor-elect of library of Stone & Webster. A report of the Virginia, will bc prcsent and welcome the li- mecting will be found in the next issue. brarians in the name of the state. October, 1ga5 342 SPECIAL LI Personal Notes Miss Margaret C. Wells, Department Editor Miss Eleanor S. Cavanaugh of the Stand- affiliated with Pottcr & CO., 5 Nassau St., as ard Statistics Company has recently returned hcad of Statistical Department. from n delightful trip to Bermuda Miss Susan M. Meara, who was for thirteen hliss Ada Couillard has resigned from the years secretary to the publisher of the Borton Munic~palReference Library, New York City, Ainerican, has succeeded Mr. John Goetz in and will iu the future be associated with charge of that paper's Reference Department. Columbia University Library. Mr. Paul P. Foster, director of the Refer- Miss Isabel Davldson (1917-18New York ence Department of the Boston Herold ad P~~blicLibrary School) was married on Traoeler, has accepted a similar position with August 29 to Mr. Frederick C. Knote. the Philadelphia Igiquirer. He entered upon bliss.Helen Van Nostrand, formerly libra- hls new duties in July. He has been suc- rian of the Chase National Bank, New York, ceeded in Boston by Willard E. Iceyes, form- is now in the Financial Division of the Amer- erly of the YOIMSCoi~ipaiziott. ican Telephone and Telegraph Company. bliss Helen Luitwieler, cataloger in the li- Miss Cecile Pajanovitch, formerly assistant brary of the College of Liberal Arts, Boston in the Technical Division of the St. Louis University, has been appointed assistant li- Public Library succeeds Miss Charlotte G. brarian of the Lynn (Mass.) Public, Library. Noyes at the Jackson Lahoratory Library of the E. I. clu Font de Nemours & Co. Miss Mrs. Ruth Metcher Kroll, who for six years Pajanovitch is a Jugo-Slavian by birth, and has been an assistant in the First Wisconsin having been educated in Switzerland, can truly Nat~onal Bank Library, has resigned to es- claim to be a cosmopolitan. tablish a home for herself and her husband. Mrs. Kroll's place is being filled by Miss Alice Miss Frances Fairbanks, librarian of the Boheim, of Milwaukee. Hercules Powder Company has announced her engagement to Mr. Edward L. Crook of Hart- MISSIrma Hochstein, who for a goocl many ford, Conn Miss Katherine Sparks, assistant years has been connected with the Legislative l~brarian of the Hercules Powder Company Reference Library at Madison, Wisconsin, has will succeed Miss Fairbanks as librarian. been engaged to do some special work at i hhsquettc University. i Miss Mary Buckley of Wilmlngton has been i appointed assistant librarian of the Hercules Miss Doris Megginson, of Riverside, Cali- "owder Company. fornia, who took the business library course in 1924 and graduated from the Riverside Miss Kathryn Embery has resigned from School of Library Service in 1924, and has ner position as assistant librarian of the Muni- been on the staff of the Riverside Public Li- cipal Reference Division of the Free Library of Philadelph~a to marry Dr. George A. brary since graduation has recently beet1 married to Vincent Woodberry Scrubbs, Jr., Richardson. of Riverside. Miss Eleanor Wells has gone from the Drexel Institute Library to the Department Mr. Paul P. Foster, librarian and director of of. Public Documents, The Free Library of the Reference Department of the Philadelphia Philadelphia. Inquirer is busily engaged in preparing a newspaper library. He hopes it will be open Miss Hekn F. Gruner, librarian of the to the publ~cby October 15. Bureau of Municipal Research of Philadelphia has taken the course on School Library Ad- Mr. Joseph F. Kwapil, librarian of the Phil- ministration conducted by Miss Adelaide adelphia Public Ledger has had his library Zackert at the University of Pennsylvania. packed for several weeks, ready to move into his new quarters. He will sympathize heartily hIiss Eleanor Kerr has resigned from W. R. with any new householder as to builders' Compton & Co., New York City and is now delays. October, 1925 SPECIAL LIBRARIES

Events and Publications Rebecca B. Rankin, Department Editor The Port of New York Authority has re- Naiional; possible methods of removing in- cently prepared a study on the cost of market- heritance tax difficulties through Federal ac- ing fruits and vegetables in the port of New tion. York. *** The Bank of the Manhattan Company, New The Economic Research Committee of York, has issued in The Manhattan Librarv Harvard University has recently published a a publication entitled "Up From the soil,;' valuable pamphlet on the economic cycle, its baing the story of wheat and the manufacture application to selling, production, investments. of bread. *** *** Robert Morris Associates, Lansdowne, Pa., The Chamber of Commerce of the United have prepared a twelve-page pamphlet giving States has prepared a valuable pamphlet on a suggested course of reading in banking and South America's trade, with particular refer- credits. ence to the share of the United States in * * * export and import trade of the ten republics. Bulletin 46 of the United States Women's *** Bureau is entitled Facts About Working Harrjngton Emerson, the well-known effi- Women, a study based on data from thirteen ciency counsellor, is writing a ser~esof articles states. for Office Managentent on the principles * * * underlying office management. Mr. Emerson's The library of the Bureau of Railway Eco- articles are well worth reading. nomics has prepared a list of references on *** American railway accounting. The study com- A. E. Duncan has compiled a pamphlet en- prises one hundred znd sixty pages of manu- titled Finance Companies from the Viewpoint script. of the Company; What Every Banker and In- *** vestor Should Know About Receivable Finance A recent issue of the Ofice Economist con- Companies. tains an article entitled "Uncle Sam, Business *** Publisher," by Waldon Fawcett. The Curtis Publishing Company has issued *** a topical pamphlet on The Merchandising of The Bank of America, New York City, has Radio, prepared by Mr. Charles Coolidge recently issued a pamphlet entitled A National Parlin, manager of the Oivision of Commer- Survey of State Debts and Securities. cial Research. *** *** A recent issue of Public Roads has an Credit Monthly for September has a read- article on the publication of research hints able article upon office lay-out and routine. on writing by E. W. Allen. The same magazine for August contains an *** article on duplication processes. Both articles University of Illinois Bulletin No. 25 has are by Miss Eleanor Boykiri. an article entitled "Reporting Educational Re- * * * search" by Walter S. Monroe and Nell B. The International Labour Office, Geneva, Johnston. Switzerland, presents in Series N, Studies and *** Reports, "Economic Barometers," a study of G. W. A. Luckey of Washington, D.C. has the methods for observing economic fluctua- issued a pamphlet entitled The International tion.with a view to foreseeing industrial un- Educafion Research Council and World employment. Burpau of Education. *** The Portland Cement Association has pre- Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman has pre- pared a valuable book entitled Editor's Refer- pared a pamphlet on Death Tones-State or erejtce ~ookon Cement and Concrete." The 344 SPECIAL LIBRARIES October, rgaj publication contains facts and figures about Legislation," is also extremely valuable iml streets, roads, public improvements and the our magazine could with wisdom reprint the entire eight pages devoted to this department. cement industry *** * * * The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- The Domestic Commerce Division of the merce has prepared some unusual publicity to Department of Commerce has recently issued encourage the sale of its publications. The A Corirnrercial Survey of the Philadeljltia *** hlarketing Area. This is the first of a serica Coinmercr Year Book and the Commerce Re- of surveys which the department is making ports are presented as live business publica- throughout the country. Undoubtedly this tions. The material is sent over the signa- will stimulate more efficient marketing in vari- ture of 0. P. Hopkins, acting director, and is ous regions of the United States. Copies of a fine specimen of publicity. this publication may be obtained from the *** Superintendent of Documents at a cost of X) Alcc. B Eason has published through the cerits. firm of S. Rentell & Co., 36 Maiden Lane, * *. * London, a valuable pamphlet entitled Wher~to The Library Review, published by Dennison Seek for Scientific Facts. In compact form Mfg. Co for August 12, under the heading he has placed in forty-two pages a vast "The Library Will Help You," makes the fol- amount of valuable information and has ap- lowing statement: "If you are making a spt- pended an adequate index to his little pub- cial investigation, give the library a chance lication. to help you. It will save time and money *** to consult first what has already been written The Department of Manufacture of the on the subject you may be investigating. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States library will supply those facts. The Review, has issued two valuable documents in their edited by F. A. Mooney, librarian, is filled bulletin series, Bulletin No. 36 entitled Pro- with interesting reviews of books and maga- tecting Quality-Tltrongh Standards and Bul- zines. letin No. 37, The Opportuttity of Trade As- *** sociations irt the Statistical Field. The Jourrral atid Proceedings of the In& *'* * tute of Chemistry for June, 1925, contains an The American Matragentent Review presents address by William Rintoul delivered before in each number The Management Index con- the London and South-Eastern Counties S~C- taining abstracts and descriptive notes of com- tion of the Institute concerning the special pany activities grouped .under the headings of library of the Nobel's Explosives Company at Finance, Office Management, Production and Ardeen, England. The library mentioned wa1 Sales. The publication, under the title Survey organized by Mr. J. Kaiser, author of Sys- of Books for Executives, also presents some tematic Indexing, for the Nobel Company, and readable book reviews. is quite complete in many respects, particularly *** in its handling of other than book materid In an article called "Unraveling Some *** 'Knotty Tangles," in Southern Califor~aiaBusi- A recent issue of the International Tele- ness, the organ of the Los Angeles Chamber phone Review describes the Bureau of In- af Commerce, Mr. Guy E. Marion, manager formation Pro-Espafia organized under the of the Research Department of the Chamber, direction of Miss Carolina Marcial-Dorado gives an interesting sample of the questions of the faculty of Columbia University, Itr coming daily to the valuable department which offices in the building of the Internationnl is under his supervision. Mr. Marion was Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, New for many years secretary of the Special Li- York City have received many visitors who braries Association. are seeking information about Spain. A val- *** uable library has been assembled and the The American Economic Review for Sep- Bureau has issued two pamphlets bearing the tember presents the twenty-second list of doc- titles Why Not Go to Spain and The Lurr doral dissertations in which will be found many of Spain. Miss Marcial-Dorado has written items of interest to special librarians. The a volume entitled Traveling in Spain and also department entitled "Documents, Reports and has in process a new book upon the subject. Pages 345-356 deleted, advertising.