I Second Edition. For private use only MEMORANDA ON Requirements for admission to the staff and advancement from grade to grade in the CIRCULATING DEPARTMENT OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Compiled by ELIZABETH L. FOOTE f Instructor in the Circulating Department OCTOBER, 1905 0 2.^5 CONTENTS. Requirements for entrance to Training Class Preliminary remarks to assistants. Literature: Requirements for Classes D, C, B, A Reading lists for study of literature.. General information for Classes D and C: Explanatory notes... Reading list for information. “ “ “ general culture .... k Library economy: Requirements for Classes D, C, B, A Reading list and references for study ^ Languages for Classes C and B. P 15996 4 FOR ENTRANCE. See “Rules governing the Training Class.” The subjects specified may include the following: Arithmetic: The examination is a three-fold test, namely: (i) of accuracy; (2) of knowledge of fundamental operations in common use; (3) of reasoning power. English includes spelling, punctuation, grammatical and rhe¬ torical construction, with sense of form in arranging and handling subject matter. History includes specially Greek and Roman, English and American with such topics in the history of other countries as are generally well known, specially those of modern Europe. Cur¬ rent history is included in General information. Literature: The world’s greatest writers and books in any language; also brief history of English and American literature, as a chronological outline with names of greatest writers and their works; also a personal acquaintance with some of the writ¬ ings of standard authors. General information includes such knowledge of natural sci¬ ences, geography, civil government, etc., as is given in the public schools to-day; also such knowledge of popular customs, current history, and other topics of the day as comes from a regular in¬ telligent reading of newspapers and magazines. Exhaustive knowledge is not required of any topic, but the meaning of or¬ dinary terms in common use may be asked; e g, in insurance, the woman question, civil and criminal law, etc. For reviewing some of the above, the following are suggested: Collier. Great events ot history. Creasy. Fifteen decisive battles of the world. Brooks. Story of the 19th century. Warner. Library of the world’s best literature. Last two volumes. Ryland. Chronological outlines of English literature. Whitcomb. Chronological outlines of American literature. Baldwin. The book lover. Koopman. The mastery of books. Magazines suggested: Outlook, Independent, World’s work, Chautauquan. 5 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO ASSISTANTS. The following notes and lists of books have been prepared in response to questions as to how much knowledge is expected of assistants before promotion to the various classes. Many useful and readable books are omitted simply for brevity. On the other hand, brief as the lists are, they are necessarily broader than one individual’s possibilities of reading within the years which they cover. The fact that they are merely suggestive is therefore em¬ phasized, and each one is advised to make her own list, using these as a guide and adding new publications occasionally to keep it up to date. Also use for frequent reference and guidance Koopman’s Mastery of books, and Baldwin’s Book lover. In the latter, courses of study in literature are particularly well outlined. With these as guides, the following hints may be found sufficient. If in any case, they are not, the instructor will be glad to give personal advice as far as possible. As each book is read the title should be checked and transferred to a list of “Books I have read.” It would be a mistake to make the original list too long. (Read Miss Plummer’s article on “A librarian’s personal read¬ ing” in the Library journal, January, 1903.) The suggestions in the following pages are grouped as they apply to the subjects under discussion, and the books named are mainly intended to be sources of information. Descriptive or critical notes have been omitted, since in most cases they may be found in the A. L. A. catalog. Sometimes two or three books will cover the same subject or overlap each other. Choice may be made among them, or parts of several might be read. It is well to get some idea of more than one writer’s presentation of a subject, particularly in literary criticism, even though not all of the book may be carefully read. Especially in volumes of essays is selection possible. LITERATURE. The outline study of English and American authors is required for entrance, as also a knowledge of the world’s greatest books. In addition to these, for Class D there should be more detailed knowledge of some works, more titles, more personal reading of the best writings, more of children’s books, modern and current . 6 literature, and to some extent the literature of subjects; also magazine literature and reviews. For Class C the requirements do not go beyond the limits of English and American authors. The knowledge of literature in the English language should by this time be more thorough and critical than it has been before. Here may begin the study of forms by some attention to that most widely read of all forms of writing, fiction. More individual reading of the best authors may be expected, wider knowledge of the literature of subjects, the comparative value of literary reviews and magazines and, to some extent, that of authors in the same field. For Class B the advance in literary study includes a syste¬ matic survey of foreign authors, a continuation of the study of forms, some attention to the literature of the 19th century, and a critical knowledge of the distinctive value of magazines and reviews as aids to book selection. For Class A the reading will vary more widely. The lines en¬ tered upon in the preceding years will suggest their own succes¬ sion, but special attention might well be paid to the literature of periods as well as to other forms; and the critical essays of many of the best writers are useful. A knowledge of literature which will cultivate excellence of literary judgment is very practical, and is of course acquired by much reading of the best. It should also be borne in mind that a first assistant or librarian in charge of a branch should love books for themselves and desire to make the best of them a part of her education. READING LISTS; Literature. FOR CLASS D. For reference and leisure moments: Warner. Library of the world’s best literature and simi¬ lar collections; see specially last two volumes of the Warner. For systematic study: Lawton. Introduction to the study of American literature. Pancoast. Introduction to American literature. Brooke. Primer of English literature. Scudder. Introduction to the study of English literature. Burt. Literary landmarks for young people. Koopman. The mastery of books. - ■ ‘ 7 FOR CLASS C. Brooke. English literature. Moody and Lovett. History of English literature. Mitchell. English lands, letters and kings. Higginson & Boynton. Reader’s history of American lit¬ erature. Richardson. American literature 1607—1885. Bates. American literature. Mitchell. American lands and letters. Howells. Heroines of fiction; one essay at a time and then the novel referred to, with perhaps some exceptions. Cross. Development of the English novel. FOR CLASS B. # Botta. Handbook of universal literature. Note specially chapters on literatures not covered separately in following titles. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Articles on German, Italian and Erencli literature are strongly recommended. Moore. History of German literature. Garnett. History of Italian literature. (Short histories of the world’s literatures.) Waliszewski. History of Russian literature. (Short his¬ tories of the world’s literatures.) Kelly. History of Spanish literature. (Short histories of the world’s literatures.) Dowden. History of French literature. (Short histories of the world’s literatures.) Saintsbury. Primer of French literature. Oliphant. Victorian age of English literature. Hazlitt. Lectures on the English poets. Howells. Literary friends and acquaintances. Perry. Study of prose fiction. Stoddard. Evolution of the English novel. Matthews. (Various of his essays on fiction.) FOR CLASS A. Bates. English religious drama. 8 Beers. History of English romanticism in the 18th cen¬ tury. Beers. History of English romanticism in the 19th cen¬ tury. Boyesen. Essays on German literature. Brunetiere. Essays in French literature; a selection tr. by D. N. Smith. Corson. Introduction to Browning’s poetry. Corson. Aims of literary study. . Carlyle. Essays on Burns, Goethe, Richter, Etc. Dobson. Vignettes of the 18th century. Forsyth. Novels and novelists of the 18th century. Masson. British novelists and their styles. Lee. Life of Shakespeare. Lowell. My study windows. Moulton. Shakespeare as a dramatic artist. Robertson. History of German literature. Saintsbury. History of Elizabethan literature. Stedman. Victorian poets. Stephen. Hours in a library. Van Dyke. Poetry of Tennyson. In The Dial there is annually, about November, an article on continental literature. “GENERAL INFORMATION” FOR CLASSES D AND C. EXPLANATORY NOTES. No line between grades : It is impossible to draw a dis¬ tinct line between the two grades in this subject, which is broad and more or less indefinite. The difference be- tween the general education of a library assistant who has been one year in library work and another who has been two or three, may and often does lie in the former’s favor. Some edu¬ cation is expected of our entering classes, but certainly not all that a library assistant needs, nor is it to be supposed that the knowledge required for passing into Class D is only such as will be obtained from general reading subsequent to entrance. It may rather be regarded that the test in general information for ad¬ mission to the library force is thus divided into two parts. We wish all our assistants to be well read on subjects of general inter¬ est and we desire to test their progress from time to time not in new subjects added to their repertoire, as it were, but in the in- •! ' . 9 creasing breadth of their knowledge in various lines and the wid¬ ening of their intellectual interests. The education in literature and general information required for Class C is theoretically three years in advance of that for D as three years of library experi¬ ence are supposed to lie between the grades, but it is the ex¬ tent of the fund of information that is tested and therefore, since examination questions for the same grade vary from year to year, the same questions asked for D may form a part of those asked for C. Hence the impossibility of drawing a distinct line between the two. Scope of general information. The topics in the news¬ papers, magazines and books of the day will roughly indicate the subjects of general interest on which we all are expected to be informed. The meaning of words and ideas suggested in book titles or in the classification of popular subjects is specially im¬ portant. General information will also include some facts in re¬ ligion, sociology, etc., which are of general interest; natural sci¬ ences taught in the public schools, namely, the elements of as¬ tronomy, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, etc.; the his¬ tory of fine arts; geography; customs; useful arts most commonly known; current events in politics, music, art, the drama, science and education; and great names in any line. Such knowledge is not acquired by any brief course of definite study, but rather by constant and intelligent reading. The ideal test should be un¬ expected, but never find one unprepared. The desirable faculty to cultivate is a mental alertness, a power of keen, quick obser¬ vation which instantly grasps the meaning of things and recog¬ nizes relationships. Then if thought and conversation habitually run along these lines impressions take definite form and perma¬ nence in the mind. But as suggestions for “catching up” in a few subjects, two reading lists are here given: The first, including many juvenile books, is an attempt to suggest sources of information in con¬ densed and simple form; the second is recommended for general reading. In the preparation of this second list, the aim has been to include only books which are decidedly worth reading aside from the information contained—an attempted combination of the literature of power and of information in the same volumes. As¬ sistants will be requested to report progress occasionally in their reading from this list. 0 ■ " 10 READING LISTS: General Information^ “Mark there. We get no good By being ungenerous, even to a book, And calculating profits—so much help By so much reading. It is rather when We gloriously forget ourselves and plunge Soul-forward, headlong, into a book’s profound, Impassioned for its beauty and salt of truth— ’Tis then we get the right good from a book.” Euzabeth Barrett Browning. first list : for general information. Philosophy, religion and mythology. Ladd. Primer of psychology. Bible. Modern readers’ Bible. (Stories from Old and New Testament.) Chenoweth. Stories of the saints. Gayley. Classic myths in English literature. Guerber. Myths of northern lands. Sociological topics. Blackmar. Elements of sociology. Henderson. Social spirit in America. Field. N. Y. political primer. Fiske. Civil government in the U. S. Hoxie. Civil government. Lloyd. Newest England or Country without strikes. Hancock. Life at West Point. Walker. First lessons in political economy. Riis. Battle with the slum (or any of his similar books.) Legend and folk lore. Brooks. Story of King Arthur. Lang. Arabian nights. Sciences, Buckley. Short history of natural science. Darwin. What Mr. Darwin saw in his voyage around the world. Holden. The sciences. Snyder. New conceptions in science. Tait. Recent advances in physical science. Wallace and others. Progress of the century. Williams. Story of 19th century science. Allen. Story of the plants. Ballard. Among the moths and butterflies. Bayne. Pith of astronomy. Beard. Curious homes and their tenants. Conn. Story of the living machine. Dana. Geological story briefly told. Gaye. Great world’s farm. Miller. First book of birds. V Useful arts. Baker. Boy’s book of inventions. Baker. Second book of inventions. Byrn. Progress of invention. Child. How and why of electricity. Huxley. Lessons in elementary physiology. Mowry. American inventions and inventors. Fine arts. Bolton. Famous European artists. Caffm. How to study pictures. Clement. Stories of art and artists. Goodyear. History of art. Hoyt. World’s painters. Guerber. Stories of Wagner operas. Hamlin. Text book of history of architecture. Reinach. Story of art. Singleton. Great pictures described by great writers. Smith, Hannah. Music and how it came to be what it Some Classics in Literature. Brooks. Story of the Aeneid, Iliad, Odyssey. Wilson. Story of the Cid. Baldwin. Fifty famous stories retold. Bunyan. Pilgrim’s progress. ■ . ' . . ' ■ * * • History. Andrews. History of the last 25 years in America. Botsford. Ancient history for beginners. Creasy. Fifteen decisive battles of the world. Johonnot. Ten great events in history. Andrews. Ten boys who lived on the road from long ago to now. A series published by American Book Co. is recommended by a teacher. It includes “Essentials” in Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern, English and American history. Geography and Travel. Bolton. Famous voyagers and explorers. Any good school text-book for study and constant reference; for example, Tarr and McMurry. Home geography and the world in general. Collective biographies. The following are sources of information for certain names. In using them, look over the table of contents and when there is an unfamiliar name, or one of which you can tell very little, read the sketch or at least part of it. Brooks. Century books for young Americans. Bolton. Poor boys who became famous. Bolton. Lives of girls who became famous. Bolton. Successful women. Bolton. Famous leaders among women. Bolton. Famous givers and their gifts. Mitchell. About old story-tellers. second list: for general culture. Philosophy. James. Talks to teachers on psychology. Black. Friendship. Religion. Clarke. Ten great religions. Fiske. Destiny of man or Through nature to God. Gladden. Who wrote the Bible. 13 Newman. Apologia pro vita sua. Thomas a Kempis. Imitation of Christ. Sociology. Avebury. Use of life. Bryce. American commonwealth. Ruskin. Unto this last or Munera pulveris. Smith, G. Essays on questions of the day. Wilson. The State. Wyckoff. The workers. Natural Science. Darwin. Origin of species. Drummond. Ascent of man. Newcomb. Astronomy for everybody. Tyndall. On light or Fragments of science. Wallace. Man’s place in the universe. See also Essays. Fine arts. Fay. Music study. Gilman. Phases of modern music. Plenderson. Story of music. La Farge. An artist’s letters from Japan. Ruskin. Modern painters. See also Biography. Poetry. Browning. (Selections.) Dante. Divine comedy; tr by Norton, or Longfellow. Lowell. Fable for critics. Palgrave. Golden treasury. Ser. i—2. Knowles. Golden treasury of American poetry. Essays. Arnold. Literature and dogma. Birrell. Essays and Obiter dicta. M Chesterfield, or Lady Montagu. Letters. Curtis. Literary and social essays. Emerson. Lectures and biographical studies. Emerson. Representative men. Fiske. Century of science and other essays. Lowell. Cambridge 30 years ago. Pater. Greek studies. Ruskin. Queen of the air. Stevenson. Memories and portraits. Biography. Hale. New England boyhood. Boswell. Life of Johnson, (in part.) Irving. Mahomet and his successors. Nicolay. Lincoln. (Not Nicolay & Hay, but one vol. work.) Sainte-Beuvre. Portraits of the 17 century; tr. by K. P. Wormeley. Tennyson. Memoir by his son. Henderson. Life of Wagner. Waddington. Letters of a diplomat’s wife. History and Description. Okakura-kakuzo. Awakening of Japan. Griffis. Religions of Japan. Norman. All the Russias. Wallace. Russia. Winter. Gray days and gold. Howells. Italian journeys. Hutton. Literary landmarks. Amicis. Holland or Constantinople or Spain Oliphant. Makers of Florence, Edinburgh. Warner, C. D. (One of his books of travel.) Parkman. Oregon trail. Latimer. (19th century histories.) Smith. Gondola days. Kipling. Kim. - . ' ' ii 7h' ‘ 3)» - 15 LIBRARY ECONOMY. The following is a condensed statement of subjects in library economy which should belong to the technical equipment of as¬ sistants in the grades indicated. FOR CLASS D. Reference books and work : elementary knowledge; pages 80-82 in Kroeger’s Guide, with description and use of books men¬ tioned ; some reading lists and indexes including those on pages 75-76 of Kroeger, and the most used fiction and children’s lists, the Poole set and A. L. A. indexes, Reader’s guide to periodi¬ cals, A. L. A. catalog and Sonnenschein’s Best books; principles of helping readers. Card catalog : what it is and how to use it; forms of arrange¬ ment ; classed, dictionary, etc.; familiarity with principal forms of entries, as: main, added, author, subject, title, series, etc.; ref¬ erences, “see and see also,” name and subject; headings; defiini- tions; simple alphabetical arrangement. Desk work : book cards, charging, filing cards, applications, deposits, fines, reserves, overdues, etc., with actual practice in the N. Y. P. L.; Board of health notices; elementary statistics; count¬ ing and making daily memoranda; regulations for readers. Shelf arrangement : what a shelf list is, classification sys¬ tems, fixed and relative location, book numbers, mechanical treat¬ ment of books including preparation for the shelves, mending, binding, covering and lettering. Library literature and information : ordinary terms, defini¬ tions and abbreviations, such as A. L. A., L. B., N. Y. L. A., N. Y. L. C., L. j., P. 1 . Names of largest and most important li¬ braries in the world, and in N. Y. City. Identity of some promi¬ nent library workers. FOR CLASS C. Reference work and books : All the most useful books men¬ tioned in Kroeger’s Guide, specially those in English and also all the most useful reading lists; periodical and other indexes as for D; use of analytical in the catalogue; use of card catalogue in¬ cluding thorough knowledge of forms of entry, subject headings and references, alphabetical arrangement. ' - i6 Use of shelf list as a classed catalogue; inventory work un¬ der direction. Accession book : what it is and what it contains; how to use it. Library literature and information : Same as for D but more extended and including library organization in New York State. Optional : Specialization in children’s work or in work with schools. Opportunity for specialization and thorough knowledge required. FOR CLASS B. Statistics : complete daily records, monthly reports, etc. Reference work : advanced, including special memoranda in the card catalogue; bibliography, names of some of the greatest bibliographies; bibliographical department in the Library jour¬ nal; special subject bibliography; special resources of Astor and Lenox branches and other special collections in New York City; Manual of the New York libraries. Cataloguing : Classification, entries in catalogue, actual work; indexing; accession book: uses, why, when, etc. Shelf department : shelf list, forms, uses; book numbers; in¬ ventory; binding routine. Circulation: registration; recovery of lost books; other problems. Library literature and information : Periodicals ai d books published in the United States and in Great Britain. Public li¬ braries in Greater New York. For specialists in children’s work and in school work: His¬ tory of growth and methods in those lines; originality; reading lists; literature of the subject; names of specialists and libraries. FOR CLASS A. Administration : Building: plans, furnishings, supplies; special written reports ; selection of staff, hours, schedule, janitor, etc. Selection of books, trade bibliography, book lists and re¬ views, order routine. . ' ■— . • ♦ 17 Reading lists and bulletins; methods of co-operation with schools. Registration, forms, guarantors, etc. History of libraries in U. S. Events of specified years, such as 1853, etc. Modern movement; names of persons and their work; names of libraries; associations and co-operative work; state organization; library institutes. Library rules. Cataloguing: Classification, analyzing and indexing. Sub¬ jects, headings and references. Reference books : Fairly complete knowledge. SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON LIBRARY SUBJECTS. The subject is not to be studied as is a branch of mathematics or of science from concise and comprehensive textbooks. Knowl¬ edge of what others have thought and done must be gleaned from the fast increasing mass of literature by means of lists and in¬ dexes. Each student should reason for herself about what she reads, see where it applies to her own work, compare one arti¬ cle with another and iook for the best plans and rules everywhere. Bibliography. Consult indexes of Library journal and Public libraries. See also a reading list in library science compiled by Pratt Institute (1902), of which each branch has a copy. A reading list on children in libraries and allied subjects is published b> Spring- field, Mass., City library. Annotated syllabus by J. D. Brown is also useful. Proceedings of library congresses and conferences. Any of these not in the branches can be obtained from the Train¬ ing Class collection on application. Text=books on technical methods. A. L. A. List of subject headings, preface and appendix. A. L. A. Rules for author and title catalogue. Ames. Subject headings for children’s books. Cutter. Rules for a dictionary catalogue. Used for alphabetic arrangement. i8 Cutter. Dewey. Dewey. Kroeger. Alfabetic order tables revised by Sanborn. Decimal classification: Preface. Simplified library school rules: Cataloguing, accession, shelf list. Used as standard in branch libraries. Guide to reference books. Miscellaneous. A. L. A. Handbook: latest edition. A. L. A. Library tracts : 1. Why do we need a public library? 2. How to start a library. 3. Traveling libraries. 4. Library rooms and buildings. 5. Notes from the art section of a library. 6. Essentials in library administration. 7. Cataloguing for small libraries. 8. A village library. Brown. Manual of classification. Brown. Manual of library economy. Dana. Library primer. Dewey. On libraries. (Reprint: New international cyclopaedia.) Dewey. Papers prepared for World’s library congress, 1893. Edwards. Memoirs of libraries. Fletcher. Public libraries in America. Plummer. Hints to small libraries. Richardson. Classification. Roebuck and Thorne. Primer of library practice. (English viewpoint.) Articles in library and other periodicals on following subjects: Accession department and book. Annotations. Book binding. Book selection. Bulletins. Children in libraries. Fiction in libraries. Librarians: Qualifications. . . ' ' - • r f ■ . ■ - 19 Libraries: Various sub-headings. Libraries and schools. Open shelves. Reference work. Statistics. Women in libraries. Besides files of Library journal and Public libraries, the English library periodicals and association proceedings which contain many useful and interesting articles may be found at the Astor Branch. LANGUAGES. FOR CLASSES C AND B. Although knowledge of foreign language is not required be¬ fore class C, a speaking knowledge of German is very desirable. The examinations in this subject for promotion to these classes test only the practical knowledge of the language as it would be used in the libraries. Thus no questions on grammatical construc¬ tion are asked but the tests include: i Translation of an ordinary catalogue entry of a book; that is, author, title, imprint, etc. 2. Translation of a passage on a general subject from the for¬ eign language to English. 3. Putting sentences from the English into the foreign lan¬ guages. Sight translation is expected, but in case of unusual words the meaning is given. One year’s study of a language is sufficient preparation for class C; for B the titles and passages for translation are more difficult and require a larger vocabulary. Special attention should be paid to the technical vocabulary used in the catalogues and bibliographies of the foreign book trade. Practice in reading the library periodicals of foreign countries is excellent.