Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/347

 THE PANIZZI CLUB. 333 a library is pretty well built up in the matter of stock, it is difficult to persuade people that it possesses any books at all, and considerable sums may be spent on it without perceptibly increasing its popularity. It needs enthusiasm and faith to build up a library under these conditions, and the faith and enthusiasm must inspire not only the librarian but those who hold the purse-strings. It should surely help to engender these qualities if Committees could be educated to believe that the Library which they control has its distinct and individual part to play in the library-economy of London, and that to keep it efficient for this pur- pose will bring an ample harvest of credit. While it must be our business to promote co- operation, it is well to remember that the idea that a library can exist to be used by anyone except those who diredtly or indiredlly pay to maintain it is one which needs to be put forward with great caution. The primary responsibility of every library is, of course, to its own particular body of readers, and if the slightest colour is lent to the idea that these may suffer from the librarian taking a wider view of his functions, plans for co-operation will be very seriously checked. Here also it is very essential, as we began by saying, that we should keep the rods in our own hands. The worst way of getting to work will be for individual members on their own responsibility to start some enquiry by means of a printed form, and send this round without any regard to the number of hours* work which filling up the form may entail in this or that library, or how much free time their brother