San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Special Libraries, 1921 Special Libraries, 1920s 1-1-1921 Special Libraries, January 1921 Special Libraries Association Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1921 Part of the Cataloging and Metadata Commons, Collection Development and Management Commons, Information Literacy Commons, and the Scholarly Communication Commons Recommended Citation Special Libraries Association, "Special Libraries, January 1921" (1921). Special Libraries, 1921. 1. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1921/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Libraries, 1920s at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Special Libraries, 1921 by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Special Libraries ADELAIDE R. HASSE, Editw Council of National Dcfsnre Washington, D C. Vol. 12 Jnnonry, 1921 No. I The Municipal Reference Library of Toledo. By WENIDELL F. JOHNSON. Ms.. Joilnson is Wccr~fUryof the f'olll~l1~~~~0~~Of I'i1?)7iCil~ mtl. EflCcicrzcU of the Oity of Tol&o. 0. Hc 7w.c bcen domg SonLC uo'll c~ilsfl'!l~fi?:e?cork for. his rit?/ tllrolcg1~t7co organLa.tion of n dlzlniclpcrl Rcfcrencc T,rBrnrz/ (lll(1 tls JAlifor of the Tulcdo Cifll Jotrt-nal. Toledo's Municipal Reference Library is terial for the library. TVe were fortunate an institution of such modest proportions In liilving secured as a nucleus for our that it would be sheer presumgtion to cle- shelves a small hut carefully selected quan- scribe the operat~on of this particular tity of 11amphlet material gatherecl by Prof llbrary as one having any great Interest to W, N. Leiserson for a Public Service Bureau readers of SPECIAL LIBRARIES. As a at Tolcclo's Municipal University. This ma- rnomber of a particular class of sgccialixetl tcrial was already classifiecl and filed in libraries, liowever, it car1 serve as an illns- perpendicnlar filing boxes, and we merely tration of the kind of service rendered and adopted the system already started. and the manner of its rendering, common to all began adding to it municipal reference 1il)raries. The 5rSt ilngortant atldit~onto onr shelves canle with an arrangement entcred into with A Two-Fold Purpose the Pnl~licLibrary by which they furnished The purpose of Tolerlo's Municipal Refer- us bo~rnd volumes on municipal subjects. ence Library, estal~lishetlonly ahout a year These were turned over to us for circnln- ago by the Co~nlnlssion of Publicity nncl lion from our !il)rary, iudividnal vol~mes Eficiency, may be said to have I~eentwo- being withdrawn only when calls for them folcl. Its primary purpose was to make came to the public library, ant1 then only available for the use of city omcials and whcn they mere not in use. In short, our en~ployes,all possible information on sub- municil~al reference library was made a jects relaied to the various activities of tho special hrnncli of the pul~liclil~~ary, except city government. On that account it was that the public library h:~s furnished no located in the city hall itself, within con- staff for ~tsogeration. When llie City Hall venient reach of most ol the city offices. library grows large enough to warr~ntit, A somewhat subordinate purpose was to however, we are confident of having a give ready access to thls nlatcrlal to citi- traincrl librarian assistants, provider1 zens, civic organizations ancl studenls It by the 1lIlbliC libl'm'~'. may be said tllnt in Toledo this second pur- The work of malring constant additions to pose hack of the esta1)liskrnent of a lihrary our collection of pani~hletmaterial, type- of referencc mnlerial on municipal subjects witten reports, clippings froin periocIicals, has probably been given greater elnphasis elc., is do111)tlnss very similar to that of than in most other cities. This is explained collecting material for any other special by the fact that the Con~mission of Pub- library. We keep in touch wlth clepart- licity and Efficiency has the job of malcing mental reports from olher cities, special citizenship efficient, as well as city atlmin- studies made by universities and municipal istrlt'on. 'ITpon them was placed the duty rcsearch bodies, and articles in the prin- of interesting and instructing the people of cipal magazines on m~~n~clpalgovernment. the city in pul~licaffairs. This they are Public Affairs Information Service provides endeavoring to do thl-ough the Toledo City a parlicnltrrly helpful incles, but the Read- Journal which Lhey publish, besicles giving er's Guldo is also very ilselul. In our own out newspaper stories, addressing civic or- case we eel a great cleal of assrstance from ganizations and preparing exhibits. In the pul~lications of other municipal refer- connection with this publicity worlr the ma- ence libraries, chicf among ndlicli is the terial gathered for the reference library is "Notes" published by thc New Yorlc Public very useful. T~brary. This material, having been collected. Collecting the Material must of course be class~fledby sub.iect. As Our first job was of coarse to collect ma- yet mc have not acquired a sufficient mass 218 SPECIAL LIBRARIES January, 1921 of material to reclo~re installation of all terest. Requests for such services have index. It is flled alphabetically by subject come chiefly from the City Council, but to One of our nest big jobs will have to bc a limited extent from department heatls. In the i~lstallationof a complete index. aclclition to this, the library atte~llptato cell Getting the Material Used the attention of city officials to lnaterlal on Up to the present time our chief thot~ght subjects related to their work Lacki~lgan has been directed toward getting the ma- assistant who can give full time to the terial used. During the first year of its hbrary, this wo~lr has been estrenlely operation, the library has been used more meager. by private citizens and civic organixalions But while Toledo's municipal reference than by city officials. This has been due library is still small, it has, in our opinion, to the fact that students of city govern- tremendous opportnnity for developmetlt, ment at Toledo University, St. John's Col- and a broad fleld of useful worlc ahead of it. lege, and the two high schools have come In Toledo as in every other city the ten- in considerable numbers for inlormation re- dency is toward professionalizing municipal quired in their classes, and to the further services, and away from the old system of fact that unusual public interest in city handing out public omce as rewards for affairs has been aroused during the last year party loyalty. This teilde~lcywill make iu- by a spirited controversy over the street creasingly important the function of the railway question and by the enfranchise- municipal reference hhrary. For the man ment of the women. who seeks to nlalre of public worlc n pro- For city officials the llbrary performs fession will Be the more eager to use the special services in the form of preparing re- facilit~essuch a library can provide. Ports on particular subjects of current in- Research Work ~n Special Libraries By ANNA LEE PACE. In slating the qnaliflcations required in momentum which springs from the natural the applicant, employers, anlong them the love of research. United States government, often make oul If education gives some of the lrnowleilgc, a tabulated outline so that their require- and inclination the enthusiasm, then expe- ments may be more quiclrly grasped 'In the rience gives more lrnowledge, and that worlc of a researcn librarian the fnllowing mh~chis lnoro prccious than lcnowlcdge- percentages seem to me to indicate a propel* wisdom. Experience in each position brings equipment: all the guns of educatiou to attack in that Education ....................doyo sector. Special libraries are indeed spe- Bent .........................40% cialized as may be seen in the Clevclnufl Experience .................zoo/, Club of Special Librarians. The line in Education, I should say to the extent of which your individual company or instltu- an A. B. degree, must take care of tion is interested becomes the river into some of the information acquired as well which all tributaries flow. The minute as encouraging the idea and illuminating ran~ifications of the snhject become impor- the methods of research. The couree in tant divis~onsin your n~incl. Experience in logic is helpful in classifying materiql. The this worlc, we nnght almost say, is non- writing of briefs and forensics teaches one negotiable, i. e., it cannot be used is n the accumulating and trncing 01 references, foundation, in another gosition. the orderly srrangement of inl'om~tio~lac- About two years before coming to Clem- qu:red in search and the making of biblio- land, research in the fixatmn 01 atmospherlc graphies. Courses in scieace requiring nitrogen was the most important clogma in papers give much tha same preparation. my Intellectnal faith. I was given 1)nolcs to Languages, of course, are helpful and in reild on the subject and special instructive any extensive work, necessary. The whole talks by the cheniical engineers in the 4lvi- college education is a preparntion, but it sion, patents on the subject to be trn~ls- cannot gn7e the results arising from the lated. I was interested in it. It is hard to second and third quullfications. The 40% think of this experience as transferable to of bent must start from the inside oat. The the field of manufactured steel-still, it bent or inclination is responsible for the was more closely connected, I think, than enthusiasm and enthusiasm is needed to any two special libraries in our Cleveland drive on the work.