LIBRARY BOOKS. THE DANGER ELEMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 13, 16 January 1909, Page 9

LIBRARY BOOKS. THE DANGER ELEMENT.

NOT VERY GEEAT. REPORT BY MR. H. BAILLIE. When a subscriber tanes a book from the public library to his home, what risk does he run of making close acquaintance with malignant "oacilli? The City Council's Library Committee has asked the Chief Municipal Libiarian, Mr. H. Baillie, to report on the question, and his answer is rather comforting. "During my visit to the United States," he writes, "I made enquiries on this subject. In every case I found that there was a complete working arrangement with the Health Department of the cities, under which the officers of the department gave the library officials prompt notice of all cases of infectious diseases, and in most cases the department undertook the duty of disinfecting or destroying the books, according to the seriousness of the disease. A few of the libraries had small formalin disinfecting chambers." A PORTLAND "SCARE."' Portland, Oregon, experienced an infection scare during 1907. The Health Officer ordered the library to be closed, and for two days the building and books were thoroughly fumigated with formaldehyde gas. The 7500 volumes that were in circulation at the time were fumigated nightly on their return to the library. The trustees made enquiries as to procedure advisable under similar circumstances in the iuture. Many replies vvero recoived, and the conclusion drawn from them was that, it was better to destroy books where they had been .exposed to contagious diseases, and that vapours from formaldehyde would not sterili&e books slacked on shelves. "CARELESSNESS AND THOUGHTLESSNESS.'' At a meeting of the New York Library Association in 1902, Dr. Andrew Il'.I I . Currier, President of the Board of Trustees of the Mount Vernon, N.Y., Public Library, stated that "book disinfection is a part of the subject of preventive medicine, which is the most important branch of scientific and human knowledge," and "that as a result of careful investigation, it appears that books may be the medium by which the germs of a disease may be transmitted. It is not uncommon for books to be used in the sick-room by those wno are not unaware of the possibility that such germs become attached to them. Such carelessness and thoughtlessness are too frequent to excite any feeling of surprise. Very often the books are obtained from a circulating library, and when returned to the library it is quite possible for them to be quickly transferred to other individuals, and thus to carry the germs of* disease with them." THE ME.THODS AND THE COST. The experiments that Dr. Currier carried out were with books thut had been \infected for that purpose, and a fumigation with formalin proved quite efficient. The books were placed in the fumigating chamber standing on their edges ; this allowed the vapour to pene trate between the leaves. At the library where these experiments were tried, the books are regularly fumigated as they are returned by borrowers, an average of 200 books per clay being put through at a cost of rbout £8 per year. Mr. Baillie did not hear of any' other library where this is being done. HARMLESS GERMS. Among the replies received by the Portland Trustees was one from Mr. F. R. Hild, chief of the Chicago Public Library. He mentions that a* thorough investigation of the book problem" was made by the Health Department. Tho report showed that no dissase-produc-inj; bacteria w«re found in these volumes , only the ordinary bacteria usually found on human skin and upon everything handled by human hands. It was extremely improbable that disease germs should lodge between the leaves of books and retain their vitality tor any length of time under the ordinary circumstances of_ use of public library books. The practical danger arose from such books in rooms where any of the contagious diseases oxisted ; and, in order to obviate this danger, the Health Department furnished the library each day with the name ot every reported case of a contagious disease, so that the library books in such cases might bo destroyed, not disintected. NO DISEASE FOR ATTENDANTS. Mr. W. L. Brown, of Buffalo, wrote : —"The Buffalo Public Library has been open for ten years with a staff running from sixty to eighty people. Last year we circulated 1,200,000 books, and we have not yet had a single case of contagious disease. Of course every book must be handled in the library by the staff. We think this fact is well worth noting in connection with the fear of the spread of contagious disease through library books. Our experience is not at all unique." It is also worth noting here that the Buffalo Public Library issues sets of "supplementary xeading books" to the public schools. Last year 363,979 books were circulated from schools. MR. BAILLIE'S ADVICE. '■Regarding precautions in our libraries," concludes Mr. Baillie, "the bylaws prohibit the use of books by those suffering from infectious diseases. As a further precaution, the Health Department might be asked to co-operate by adding instructions regarding circulating books to the usual notice left at premises where there are cases of contagious disease. A book disinfecting chamber is now available in the Newtown Branch Library, and it should be used in all cases of books coming from infected premises. I do not consider that it is necessary to fumigate books each day as has been suggested.''