By MAX LEDERE~ A Stroll Through English Libraries Dr. Lederer is a fellow of the Library of now, a modern library having been estab­ Congress. lished right below the old one. The Bod­ leian Library, however, is still, as it has been HEN VISITING English libraries, one for ages, a working library, not only one of W looks back to six centuries of devoted the most revered, but also one of the largest service to the reader. Within convenient and most important institutions of its kind. range of the traveler are London and Ox­ The old Bodleian is too well known to ford. The libraries of these two cities offer require a minute description. Generation a good choice for a general view. after generation has climbed the shallow Let us start with Oxford, the ancient seat steps of the quaint wooden staircase. One of learning fQr almost seven centuries, would not suspect when passing the modest whose coat of arms humbly points to the entrance in a corner of the Old Schools eternal source of all truth and wisdom: Quadrangle that he was entering one of the Dominus illuminatio mea. In the venerable noblest repositories of man's wisdom and Merton College Library-the building was learning. Founded in the fifteenth century erected in the years I373-78-the lance­ it was despoiled IOO years later, and then shaped, narrow windows throw a dim light restored by Sir Thomas Bodley at the end on rows of leather-bound volumes, the gilt of the sixteenth century. The !-square titles and edges of which have long ago shaped hall with its beautiful old roofing, faded. The structure and arrangement are, adorned with college arms, has been the on a smaller scale, similar to those of the workshop of countless scholars. There are Bodleian Library. There is a central aisle untold treasures among the 42,000 bound with bays on both sides and the books on volumes of manuscripts, oriental and west­ shelves above the desks-simple boards­ ern, some dating from the fifth century. within . easy reach of the reader. Valuable The "Theorem of Pythagoras" can be seen books were chained to the shelves-as still in a manuscript of Euclid's Elements ~ al­ may be seen-to be on the safe side in those most I IOO years old. King Alfred's Anglo­ insecure times. In those days the work of Saxon translation of St. Gregory's Liber a scholar must have been somewhat less pastoralis ~ the Cura pastoralis ( 890-897) cumbersome than now, to judge from the next catches our eye. signs on top of the frontsides of the bays; Thousands of manuscripts and incu­ only a few bays were dedicated to the old nabula, and two million books fill the stacks "schools" of theology, jurisprudence, medi­ of the New Bodleian Library. This mod­ cine and philosophy. A few shelves sufficed ern structure-too modern, perhaps, for for what was probably the whole knowledge many old Oxoni::ms in these noble surround­ in each field. In the corner where two ings of the Clarendon building, the Old wings form a right angle is a bust of Sir Schools Qua-drangle, Exeter and Trinity Thomas Bodley whose name is forever con­ Colleges-was finished in I 940, at the time nected with the Bibliotheca Bodleiana. The of the "phony" war. During the war the old Merton College Library is hardly used premises were used by the government. OCTOBER~ 1949 329 The library was formally opened by the process takes much longer because of the King and Queen in 1947, exactly 500 years traditional use of ledgers rather than cards. after the opening of the oldest part of the The slips for the entries, formerly written, Bodleian, which once contained the manu­ are now printed on sheets which have to be scripts of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. cut; then the single slips are pasted on the The New Bodleian meets all the standards left-hand pages of the ledger, and additions of a ~odern library. The light and large on the right-hand pages. To catalog new reading room, which is used mainly by stu­ accessions, slips have to be removed and dents in the social, economic and historical moved on until the page, or the entire vol­ fields, contains an excellent reference li­ ume, is ready for a new, up-to-date arrange­ brary for the convenience of the readers. ment-which, however, does not stay up-to­ All the other books, including the valuable date very long. This system is certainly old manuscripts, are brought over to the old less flexible than the use of car-ds, and it Bodleian reading room by means of an elec­ takes longer for new accessions to be en­ tric conveyor leading through an under­ tered. On the other hand, it is more con­ ground tunnel which connects the two venient to look over an author's complete buildings, the calls being transmitted by work, or a subject, in a bound volume than means of pneumatic tubes. S. Gillam, as­ to go through long files of cards. Because sistant secretary, serves as an expert guide of the simple procedures the library requires through all the intricacies and technicalities a relatively small personnel; the whole staff of a modern library. The steel shelves are includes only 100-120 persons. It is true, similar to those of the Library of Congress, however, that it sometimes takes an hour but the books are shelved by size as indi­ before a book is received by the reader and cated in the call number, a-d . The subjects the catalog may not yet record a book which are indicated by a number system which is has been received months before. On the used by this library exclusively, and the in­ whole, however, it does function if one may dividual works are arranged alphabetically conclude from the scholarly work which within the size groups. A special peculiar­ has been accomplished in the Bodleian Li­ ity which dates far back is that newspapers brary. And here they are still sitting either are bound by date, with titles in alphabeti­ in their traditional, time-honored cap and cal order. This makes it possible to view gown or in the plain clothes of our more the news of the day from various political prosaic age: the young student trying out angles. To trace a particular fact, how­ his first groping steps in the universe of ever, it is necessary to know the exact date. letters ; the famous scholar, sure of his ways Many volumes, especially manuscripts through the labyrinth of knowledge neatly and early prints, are turned with their backs bound up between covers, tracing the steep to the wall, the call number written in ink paths which lead to unknown lands no on the edges. They were originally chained man's eye has ever beheld. and one can still see the spot where the The magnificent library of the British chains were fastened to the covers. The di­ Museum, one of the largest of the world, visions are the same as in· any other large with approximately four million volumes is library, but are modestly termed "rooms," a comparatively modern institute compared e.g. a cataloging room, a map room, etc. with the old Bodleian. The magnificent Although the simple cataloging system used dome of the reading room, which was only does not require a large staff of specialists slightly damaged during the war, houses an and is actually done in a single room, the excellent reference library accessible to the 330 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH, LIBRARIES reader. Arthur Ellis, the keeper, one of the brary or in the Library of Congress. There leading officers of the library and a noble he has to get a personal permit either for type of a quiet and friendly English scholar­ the day or a longer period, stating precisely librarian, F. D. Cooper, assistant keeper of the object of his studies. printed books, first class, and for many A neighbor of the British Museum Li­ years in charge of the Documents and State brary is the University of London Senatr Paper Room, and Mr. King, in charge of House and Library. This is a modern the Music Room, dedicated a good deal of skyscraper, housing 500,000 books and serv­ their .precious time to inform this visitor ing a student body of 50,000 residents and about the library in general and to show about 20,000 nonresidents, besides the facul­ him around in the various divisions, here, ties of 40 affiliated schools, as the librarian, too, called rooms. As in the Bodleian we J. H. P. Pafford, explains. It has a beauti­ are again surprised at the simplicity of the ful reading room with a reference library procedure. The cataloging system is simi­ and all the facilities for quick and expert lar to that of the Bodleian, although the service. The library specializes in political numbers used for the subjects are -different; and social sciences. The single institutes and here, too, the books are cataloged and (e.g. for Slavonic studies and history) in shelved by size. Cataloging is done in two the same building have their own special rooms by about two dozen employees. A libraries. staff of about ro persons in two rooms This little stroll through libraries in handle the copyright. Here, as in the Bod­ England concludes with a glance at a small leian, ledgers are used, not cards. The but important collection: the American Li­ stacks are, naturally enough, somewhat old brary on Grosvenor Square, next door to fashioned and filled to the high ceilings with and connected with the American Embassy, shelves so that ladders must be used.