Page:Library Administration, 1898.djvu/214

 At the Bibliothèque Royale at Brussels the whole of the periodicals for the current year are kept in pigeon-holes round the walls of a special room, to which access can only be obtained by a special ticket, issued with severe restrictions. On the 31st of December in each year the whole room is cleared, and the parts sent off to binders'. Should any particular number become damaged by frequent use it is withdrawn from its pigeon-hole, but unless in very bad condition may still be seen on application. A room of this kind would undoubtedly be a welcome boon to readers at the British Museum. A selection would, however, have to be made from the vast number of periodicals received there, thereby giving an opening for complaints, and, moreover, many well-known publications would have to be bought in duplicate, for the vast number of visitors (not all scrupulously clean as to the hands) would certainly make them too dirty to be permanently kept.

Every library possessing books that are interesting without being read becomes in proportion to their number a museum, and is under an obligation to display these treasures. It will therefore, if space and budget allow, arrange in a public gallery, in glass cases, specimens at least of early typography, of bindings, of first editions of world-famed books, and other bibliographical, artistic, and literary curiosities. If this be not done, the labour of continually