A Library Primer (1899)/Chapter XXVIII

Save all pamphlets having to do with local history, and save also those of a general nature which promise ever to be of any importance. In a small library, however, or in any library in which money for salaries is limited, and the work to be done in the regular matter



of attending to the public, lending books, etc., is great, do not waste time in trying to arrange or catalog pamphlets. Simply let them accumulate, arranging them roughly in classes. Bind at once only those that seem absolutely to demand it. In the history of almost any library the time will come when it will be possible to sort out pamphlets, arrange them properly, catalog such as are worth it, bind them singly or in groups, and incorporate them into the library. But any system of arranging and sorting pamphlets which does anything more than very roughly to arrange and store them, and attempts to make them, without much labor, accessible to the general public, is almost sure to be a failure. This is not true of pamphlets to which the public has not access. But pamphlets not fully cataloged and not accessible to the public are, no matter how scientifically arranged, almost useless plunder. To keep them clean and in order nothing is as good as a pamphlet case, which any boxmaker can make, of cardboard about 9 inches high, 7 inches deep, and 2 inches thick, open at the back. They will cost from 4 to 12 cents each, according to quality of board used and quantity ordered. For holding a few pamphlets together temporarily Ballard's "klips" are best. Sold by H.H. Ballard, Pittsfield, Mass.