Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/58

48, if it can be dignified with the name, , and in this respect they are to be commended as faithful patrons of the art of printing. But in nearly every other respect they disdain to borrow hints from books or even their custodians. One instance will suffice, and it must be understood to refer exclusively to British men of business, and not to Americans and Germans, who have shown themselves intelligently alive to the power of literature and the excellence of the devices used in connexion with libraries. The average British man of business, then, is a conservative, who will not avail himself of even the most obvious labour-saving method, unless he is driven to test it, and reluctantly self-persuaded to use in spite of previous prejudice. The card-indexing system is a case in point. This method has been in everyday use in British, American, and Continental libraries for more than a century, and is recognized universally as a labour-saving device of the highest value. It has been widely adopted for every kind of business purpose in America and Germany—book-keeping, address-indexing, stock-keeping, traveller's records, and every variety of commercial operation-while in England, our men of business look at it askance, because they think it is quite a dilettante concern, used only by the impractical men of affairs who run libraries.It is not to be wondered at if such men are sceptical regarding the value of book-knowledge when they thus ignore an appliance, which, considered solely as a labour-saving device for business purposes, might easily