Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/16

 6 and catholic views of the functions of a library. His aim to benefit the university libraries; but his desire was more than this, for he hoped to attain his object by broadening their basis and extending their scope; and, in a word, by converting them into true public libraries in which, to use his own quaint words: "not only the architect, the ship-builder, and the farmer; but even the tallow-chandler and pin-maker, may find the latest improvements that have been made in his profession." The project, as I have said, came to nought; and, remembering the time and circumstances of the proposal, one does not wonder at this; we rather wonder that it received, as it did receive, the assent of the authorities of both universities. I suspect they must have been won over by the ardent and persuasive tongue of the young professor; and that when they came to scan it in the cool light of print it ceased to charm them. Twenty years later, we find Professor Ogilvie again directing attention to the state of the library; alleging that it was "extremely deficient in various branches of science and literature;" and pointing out that for eight years preceding not more than £5 or £6 had been spent annually on books. But the University Faculty declined to move in the matter, being, as they said, "of opinion that purchasing books for the library is no legal burden upon the funds of the college." Undeterred by this rebuff, the professor gallantly returns to the attack; and, among other arguments, puts the rather sly and pointed query whether "buying books for the library" is less of a legal burden than "dividing annually among the masters any accrescing revenue that may arise?" This seems to have been too much for his colleagues, and they once and for all stamped out Ogilvie and his public spirit by declining positively to have anything to do with what they called his "self-denying schemes for benefiting their successors."

Happily, in these later days a more intelligent, and I may add a more intelligible, spirit prevails in university counsels, and while, as is but natural, the process of dissipating the ideas and customs of centuries is slow, the whole body of professors is permeated with a sense of the important place and functions of the library in the University Constitution. As a result there is, I have reason to believe, an immediate prospect of changes in the conduct and management of the University Library of Aberdeen which will bring it quite abreast with the best arrangements of any similar institution in the country. In this connexion I would mention the name of my friend Professor Trail, than whom there