THE LIBRARIAN.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3098, 12 September 1899, Page 6

THE LIBRARIAN.

The Bookish "Admirable Crichton" "Modern Conditions Require. Hardly anywhere within the range of our educational appliances has there been a greater revolution than in all relates to the office of librarian. In fact, the oftice as now understood is a new creation. Within tlie rcvu.lection of those not very far advanced in years the duties of Uie libraria.ii were very simple. He was to open the library at a certain hour each weekday, and he was to close it with prompt exactness at a certain other hour. We have heard it related of the ancient librarian of one of our oide-si. college-. a venerable fossil, who was put in otnee because he had nothing- cisc to- do und there was no one else who would accept the meagre compensation, that he was locking the door as the clock waa on the stroke of one, when a studenL. ©ager and breathless, inquired after a certain book. "Oh, certainly,'' replied the venerable functionary, "if you will oome here at precisely 12 o'clock t.y morrow you will find the library open." The thought of taking any pains to satisfy the inquiring studpnt and to foster in him a love of reading never entered the mind of this worshipper of ! the clock. His busine&s was incidentj ally to have Lhe library open for an hour, but his great business was to s-ee tbat no one had access to it for the ■■ other twenty-three hours. The librarI ian of the olden time, if an applicant i eaid, "I should like the first volume of ! 'Hume'a History,' " could go to 'he ' shelf where it was and give out the 1 desired volume. He counted up the ! books at the end of the year to see how 1 many were missing, and now and then, ln a moment of unusual elevation, he prepared such a list of books aa he thought it desirable to purchase. The librarian of to-day. whether of a, college library or of a library more freely open to the public, realizes that his business is not to give the student the book that he asks for— anybody could do that ; a penny in-thp-slot machine would answer. Just as anyone can feed a man who is hungry. What is wanted is some one who will tell a man what he needs, and will make him want what he doesn't want. If a stir den* ooroe-8 Into thp library and says, "Tbe professor directs us to write on such a subject," It is the business of the librarian to con-verse with the student, to g-et some idea of his calibre and of his knowledge of tlie subjprt. and of his tastes, and to put in his hand tbe very book that he needs. Tt is his busines to know what the student wants better than thp student knows himself. If a student or a stranger strolls into the library, it ls for the librarian to infuse into him a i love of re-adlng. to enkindle the desire | for knowledge, and perhaps in the spirit of Words worth's Expostulation* to point him to • * • "bookp — that light bpquoathpfj To beings le.ss forlorn and blind ! Up! Up! <In/l drink thp spirif-brfHithed Prom dead men to their kind." Tlie librarian of a college or university to-day holds a position that is not surpassed in importance -ami inlluvnce by any professorship ; he is the virtual director of the reading of the whoie institution. He must know all there is to be known about books, a.bout his own library, and about books all over the world. Hr may emulate the scholar who once was asked where information on a certain subject could be obtained. "There i« only one book in the whole world that contains that information," he replied ; "you will find it in tbe library of the Vatican, in room D, third row of shelves to the left, four shelves from the bottom, the third book from the right-hand s.-de." Xhe guardian of a public library haa n.eed of even a larg-er range of knowledge as tbere is greater variety in the desires and aptitudes of those who will apply to him, and as the library is becoming more and mo-r© a factor in the Intellectual and industrial life of every community, and as with every* year new fields of labor come into view. The applications, for example, o-f electricity, the telephone, the Roentgen rays, these a^id a thousand more, unknown a few years ago, now each demands a s-mall library for itself. The library is an essential of the equipment of every technical school, of every profess'onal school. It is the safeguard of the ■young, the rival of the saloon, the ally of the school, the savings bank and the church. It at once measures and promotes the intelligence of the community. In Massachusetts there are more than 500 public, libraries, each containing upwards of 1000 volumes, with an agrgregrate of 4,650,000 volumes. Of the 350 towns in th* State only 44 are destitute of a free library. In Boston the free library has its branches and sends out books to all the suburbs. With these demands the librarian's calling* has become a professional calling for a professional education. But •of course in a school only the rudiments can be given, only a few of the principles imparted. The real Hhrarrlan must make ham-self by a lifelong, ceaseless study which shall result in a knowledg-e as vast as it is accurate, a kno-wled-ge that is available at a moment's notice. A library alon* 5 is like a lighthouse — it is for the libraripn to trim and light the lamps and to send ©at their radiance to illuminate a widely spread fcorizem.