Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1894 [PAGE 249]

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250

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

was ordered. I t is quite impossible to keep in orderly shape the endless details of correspondence, etc., unless an office is fitted up suitably for a librarian's use. The present room is a store room for the library and business agent and registrar, and in it all our work has to be done. The board should set apart a room and fit it up in shape for t h e business of the library. A second matter t h a t needs attention, particularly if a librarian is employed who is skilled in his work, is t h a t some discretion, at the direction of the library committee, should be given regarding the purchase of books. Notices are from time to time received of valuable works offered at low cost, and the present method is too roundabout to make such offers available. The librarian also should be at liberty to purchase needful supplies for his work. The report of the business agent will show t h a t of the $5,000.00 appropriated for the library, $1,000.00 was set aside for periodicals and binding. From this sum 156 periodicals were ordered, of which almost none are of a general, rather than a technical character. The binding for the six months of 1894 will well-nigh exhaust the amount available for this item. The $4,000.00 remaining has been actually spent, or orders are now out t h a t will cover it. The total number of books added to the library between March 1, 1893, when the last record was made for the catalogue of that year, and May 30, 1894, is 2,452. This does not include pamphlets, of which several hundred have been placed on file. I am pleased to say t h a t the increase in calls for books during the year has exceeded t h a t of any previous year, reaching, so far as we can estimate, about 40 per cent! This is convincing testimony to a wider scope of instruction, and to a better appreciation, on the part of the students, of their privilege in this respect. The increase is fairly distributed among the various departments. I t became apparent to me soon after assuming the duties of librarian, last fall, t h a t I could do nothing more t h a n a perfunctory service. The library, as I conceived, was not so well arranged as it might be; but nothing could be done because of the limited room at disposal, particularly as new purchases were crowding us more and more. But the fact t h a t t h e books were not catalogued except by titles, made a rational placing of them absolutely impossible. I t remains, therefore, t h a t no professor, much less a student, can know what material is at his service, unless he has gone over the entire library, volume by volume—a tedious and timewasting labor, as 1 know from having done it in behalf of my department. The time has come, indeed it came long since, when a systematic cataloguing of the books by topics is indispensible. Further, no one can appreciate how needful this is, unless he has heard the repeated inquiry, ''Where can I find this or t h a t subject treated?" The reply depends chiefly upon what a mere student assistant happens to know about t h e library. The attention needful to the office work I could give only a t odd times when not engaged in any regular duties, and any systematizing of it was not possible on this account, as well as for a lack of conveniences therefor. The above two, and other considerations of importance, in my judgment, make it imperative t h a t a trained librarian should be employed, a n d t h a t cataloguers should be placed at his direction. There are various and radical differences of opinion upon t h e arrangem e n t of this, as of other libraries. The library committee may be trusted to do its full duty intelligently, but much care should be taken to select a man who can work harmoniously with them. The urgent need for more room is apparent. The incongruity of having 100 or more students studying, conversing, and reading in t h e same room is also apparent. I t has been impossible to preserve quiet in t h e room, and unadvisable to a t t e m p t it. Our shelves are full, and we have