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LIBRARIES

1064

LIBRARIES, HOW TO USE

Kingdom by far the most important is the British Museum at London, which has over 2.000,000 printed books, and is exceedingly rich in Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Roman antiquities, illuminated missals, manuscripts and maps. The English act was extended to Scotland in 1854. In Dublin the library of Trinity College contains about 300,000 volumes, and the national library of Ireland numbers over 100,000.

France is remarkable for the number of provincial libraries open to the public, while its capital is better provided than any other city in Europe. The Bibliotheque Nationale is of ancient origin and contains more than 3,000,000 volumes — the largest library in the world. Fourteen other libraries, most of which are open to the public, add over 1,000,000 to the volumes accessible to the people of Paris. The school library also is a very important feature of the French system. In 1862 it was ordered that a library should be attached to every primary school for the use of the children and others, and in 1882 there were 20,000 of these school libraries.

Throughout the German empire1 the libraries of the states and the universities are well-supplied with books, and in Berlin there are over 70 libraries. Italy, as might be expected, has a number of richly furnished libraries, but all yield in interest to the Vatican library at Rome, which probably is the oldest in Europe (1447). The Vatican is the private library of the pope; but all scholars gain access by permission.

There are several university libraries in Russia, which generally are open only to members of their several bodies; but the imperial library at St. Petersburg, containing nearly 1,500,000 volumes, is open to all persons over 12 years of age.

In the United States but little interest was shown in the establishment of public libraries during the first half of the ic/th century, but since the close of the Civil War the accumulation of books has gone on very rapidly. In 1903 the number of registered public libraries was over 9,000, containing upwards of 55,000,000 volumes. Among the older collections is that of Harvard University, the number of whose volumes has increased from 72,000 in 1850 to 750,000 in 1907. Yale University library has increased from 21,000 to 480,000. Nearly every state has established an official library to which admission is free; the largest of these is the library of New York, containing 160,000 volumes. Mr. Carnegie, besides founding or aiding numberless educational institutions, has donated over 40 million dollars to libraries in Great Britain and the United States (See CARNEGIE). Astor library in New York city, founded by John Jacob Astor, contains 250,000 volumes, and its endowment provides for an

annual expenditure of $18,000 in the purchase of books. In 1895 a consolidation was formed, under the title of the New York Public library, of the Astor library, Lenox library and the Tilden trust, the home of which now is at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The Congressional library at Washington is the national library of the United States, and the building in which it is placed is the largest library building in the world. To-day its book-collection is close upon 1,500,000 volumes.

Libraries, How to Use. The average public library is much frequented; it is the school or reference library that is likely to be neglected, and that because the student is ignorant of how to proceed for himself to find the information which he desires. His idea of reference work is usually bounded by an encyclopedia or two; if he fails to find there what he Deeds, he is apt to become discouraged and feel that the library, as far as he is concerned, is useless. As a matter of fact, the encyclopedia merely is an index to the vast funds of material to be found elsewhere in the library. Besides the brief treatment which it gives of a subject, it may be valuable for its suggestion of another subject under which further information may be found.

After the cross-references in the encyclopedia have been exhausted, the student should gather the headings which he has consulted and turn to the card-catalogue. This may be attacked from three sides; it is divided according to authors, subjects and titles. Each book has an author, a subject and a title card. Plutarch's Lives of Illustrious Men, for example, may be looked for under the author Plutarch, under the subject, Biography, and under the title, Lives of Illustrious Men. Thus a student who comes with very little knowledge of a book may be able to place it under at least one of these headings. The numbers always found in the upper left-hand corner of the card denote the classification; and it is very convenient to have a general idea of the subjects which these numbers represent and of their location in the room. For general reference works one should learn to be independent of the librarian.

A serviceable guide to periodical literature is Poole's Index, issued yearly, which should be found in every good library. Monthly guides to periodic literature are issued in pamphlet form. Much good material appears in such magazines as the Nineteenth Century, Atlantic Monthly, Review of Reviews, "World's Work, Harper's, The Century, Scribner's and the various periodicals devoted to education, science, philosophy, psychology and art, whose name is legion Such material is made readily accessible by means of the indexes mentioned above. It is the primary source from which the student may gather infor-