1 he Library of the University of Illinois Letters from the Librarian National Library of Ireland to the Council of Trustees on certain needs of the Library Dublin Privately printed by Browne and; Nolan November 1898 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/lettersfromlibraOOnati PAGE Letter I. On the Joly Collection, on its Catalogue, and on the General Catalogue of the National Library June 7th, 1898 5 Letter II. On the Unfinished Library Building June 21st, 1898 12 Letter III. On the Need for Additional Library Attendants October 10th, 1898 17 962297 Note The National Library of Ireland is open to the public on 294 days every year , and for twelve hours on all these days. For the character of the study pursued in the Readmg Room , see the Trustees' Report for 189 I. Letter to the Trustees on the Joly Collection r on its Catalogue, and on the General Catalogue of the National Library June jth, 1898 It is estimated that the Joly Collection contains about 23,000 volumes, together with a large mass of unbound papers and prints, and a fine collection of Irish and Scotch song-music. The task of providing a proper catalogue was entered on during the year 1897, It was found that the list made in former years was inaccurate,, incomplete, and misleading. In the vast majority of cases newly-written titles were imperatively necessary. This was partially due to the necessary haste of the makers of the former list, to the inadequateness of their bibliographical aids, and to their inability to grasp the methods by which skilled cataloguers solve puzzles. It was also due to the remarkable difficulties presented by many of the books composing the valuable Collection. Anonymously published works are met with in large numbers ; the names on many title-pages are pseu- donyms ; there are very many examples of that stumbling-block of the cataloguer, the French com- pound name. A very important part of the Collection is the large mass of books which deal with Irish history, topography, and biography. Now, Irish biblio- graphy of the last two centuries has been but imperfectly worked out and recorded. The excellent dictionary of anonyms by Halkett and Laing is of very little use indeed to our cataloguer in this department. Even the € DESCRIPTION OF THE JOLY COLLECTION I. British Museum Printed Catalogue, certainly the most efficient existing aid to a bibliographer, fails to throw light on the authorship of many Irish books and pamph- lets. Thus the progress of the cataloguer through the Joly Collection is often retarded by a necessary piece of careful research in Irish biography, in order to establish the authorship of the work of which he is giving an account. It is evident that the Catalogue of our National Library ought to be completely scholarly in these matters ? The Joly Collection is worthy of careful cataloguing on the ground of its intrinsic value. A large part of it divides fairly obviously into the following groups: — (a) Numerous works dealing with the history, civil and military, of the French Revolution, and of the Napoleonic Wars. There are thousands of volumes in this group, many of them being the original memoirs which form such an important part of the material of history. (b) The Irish history, topography, and biography is of great importance. Blanks in the National Library as it exists will be filled most admirably in very many instances. Some prized books of Irish interest of the seventeenth century are here, such as Carve’s Itinerary , with the very rare third volume, and a fine copy of Colgan’s Acta Sanctorum . The Joly Catalogue when finished will describe rare editions absent from many standard bibliographies, and even from the British Museum. Most welcome as an addition to our National Library is the collection of Irish Periodicals. ( c ) A third group worthy of note is the Voyages and Travels. Very fine sets of some classical works in this subject are here. For example — of Cook’s Voyages are found : first and second editions of the First Voyage ; first, second, and third editions of the Second Voyage, and of the I. DESCRIPTION OF THE JOLY COLLECTION 7 Third Voyage ; lastly, the great folio plates illustrating the Second and Third Voyages ; twenty-three volumes in all. (< d ) A fourth group is the Music. In Irish song- music and Scotch song-music this group is very rich. The Irish song-music has been examined already by a few scholars and collectors, and the absence of a cata- logue deeply regretted. The chief treasure of the rest of this group, so far as up to the present it has been pos- sible to examine it (much being loose sheets, in unopened parcels), is the set of curious little oblong dance-music books of the eighteenth century. Some of these are re- markably rare and costly, ( e ) Attention must also be drawn to the numerous parcels of Prints, which fill several large cupboards. A few of these parcels have been opened. Examination of them, and of the labels on the other parcels, proves that the Library has acquired some thousands of Portraits and Views of scenery. The portraits of the worthies of Ireland, of England, and of other countries appear to be classified, and then arranged in the alphabetical order of the names. The views of scenery in Ireland and other lands are also classified. Many of the prints are intrinsically valuable as works of art, and the importance of the whole of this group as illustrative of Biography and Topography is undeniably very great. Besides these five prominent groups there are large numbers of useful books, of which most are included under the following heads : — Encyclopaedias (several important ones not previously in the Library), general biography, popular science, large illustrated popular editions of standard works, topographical works, books by the Joly Family, and a very valuable collection of Periodicals. Among the periodicals, for example, we have Once a Week, in its early years a very remarkable 8 THE CATALOGUE MUST BE A GOOD ONE : ITS COST I. illustrated magazine. The value of the Irish Periodicals has already been spoken of. Enough perhaps has been said, even in this very superficial sketch, to create a pre- sumption that the Joly Collection is worth the cost of cataloguing? It is evident, moreover, that an explicit, lucid, time-saving catalogue is necessary for use in our Library, frequented by so many readers whose time for research is scanty and precious. Easy writing is too often hard reading, and this is especially true of a Catalogue ; where nothing but intelligent, painstaking work will secure an accurate, easily comprehensible account of the varying biblio- graphy, subject, and scope of unfamiliar books — such an account, in fact, as tends to aid a reader to feel sure that he can demand precisely what he needs. This thought has been constantly borne in mind in making slips for the Joly books. With reluctance, the notion of subject references was abandoned, and a letter to the Trustees, on May 18, 1897, explained the grounds for doing this. The Treasury, in the financial year 1897-8, granted ^200 for cataloguing the Joly Collection. It had been presumed that the list on slips would be of use to the cataloguers. As already stated, that list was found to be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading. New slips, in the vast majority of cases, were imperatively necessary. For the £ 200 granted in 1897-8, slips were written for 10,500 volumes. Thus the cataloguing of each volume cost a little more than 4 y 2 d. The Treasury has granted ^200 for cataloguing the Joly Collection in the financial year beginning on April 1, 1898, and closing on March 31, 1899. For that sum of £200 it will be possible to get slips written for 10,500 volumes. Every effort to achieve a higher result will be made. I. GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY 9 However, by the 31st March, 1899, it is almost certain that slips for 21,000 volumes will be written. There will remain, in that case, about 2,000 volumes not catalogued, besides the Music, the collections of Prints, (Irish Portraits in large numbers being an important part of these), and parcels of miscellanea and cuttings. There will remain, moreover, the onerous task of seeing the slips prepared finally on a perfectly uniform plan for printing, and of comparing the proofs with the books. It is evident that in the estimates of 1899-1900 some provision should be made for paying educated cata- loguers to continue and finish the work of the Joly Collection. Were this done however there is a further question — the want of a good General Catalogue of the rest of the National Library of Ireland. There are already arrears of two kinds in our catalogu- ing. First, there are books whose cataloguing has never been attempted, from want of staff and time ; Second, books (a) inadequately, or ( b ) incorrectly catalogued, or (1 c ) catalogued on different plans at various times, so that the entries when laid down in the large volumes which form our Desk Catalogue do not accord with each other. There are now thousands of books in the building which, although laid aside in safety, never have been catalogued for public use. A large portion of a gift received fifteen years ago from the Duke of Leinster, a gift of duplicates made by the British Museum about ten years ago, and many other smaller gifts received from time to time, form by far the larger part of this un- catalogued material. But a subject of even greater importance is the inade- quate, or incorrect cataloguing of a very large number of valuable books. It is not possible to show in short space IO BLUNDERS OF THE EXISTING CATALOGUE I. how inadequate for the service of public inquiry are the catalogue entries previous to 1874. The chief deficiencies are — 1st : The exact Christian name ol the author is rarely ascertained. Hence, as the catalogue grew, came confusion of authorship. 2nd: The authorship of anony- mous and pseudonymous works is rarely ascertained. Here also, of course, is a source of confusion, since the full list of a writer’s works in many instances can only be assured by including those which were published anonymously or pseudonymously. 3rd: Titles are often abbreviated or even altered without indication of the fact. This, of course, often disguises the identity of a work. 4th: The abbreviation of titles is often done in such a manner as to conceal or distort their meaning. Hence the true nature of the works catalogued is not known to the inquirer. 5th: Long sets are catalogued simply as so many volumes without indication of the contents of each volume, as : — , Locke, Jno. : The Works of, 10 vols. 8vo., ib % 1812. The collections of French Memoirs by Guizot, Petitot, and others, are merely mentioned, under the names of the editors, as 55 vols. 8vo., or 71 vols. 8vo., without any help to the student by which he may determine whether de Commines, or de Joinville, or any other French classic be present in the • particular collection, and if present, in what volumes ! It would be tedious to enumerate all the defects of the Catalogue as made in the period which preceded Mr. Archer’s librarianship. The Library as an agency of public usefulness is seriously hampered by the blunders described, and by many others. It is time to think of re-cataloguing on an intelligible uniform system. Why not connect the Cataloguing of the Joly Collec- tion with that of the rest of the Library ? The task is a I. NEED FOR MORE ASSISTANT-LIBRARIANS 1 1 very large one, and would occupy seven or eight years. But it must be done, sooner or later, and the evils of bad cataloguing intensify in a rapidly increasing ratio with the growth in size of a library . And the Library needs more Assistant Librarians, not only as cataloguers, but as intelligent and enthusiastic participators in the general organization and management of a rapidly-developing National institution. As stated by the Trustees in their Report for the year 1897, many useful pieces of library work other than cataloguing at present remain un- attempted, while many are interrupted and imperfectly executed, because of the insufficiency of the staff of library officers. Letter to the Trustees on the Unfinished Library Building June 21, 1898 There are three large collections of books in the National Library of Ireland for which fitting and suffi- cient accommodation has never been provided. These collections are the Newspapers, the large Ordnance Survey maps, and the Specifications of Patents. The Newspapers at present are placed on shelves in book-stacks not made for such large volumes. These stacks are not deep enough to prevent the volumes from projecting into the narrow passages which separate the stacks. Moreover, the uprights which support the shelves are too far apart, and the large heavy volumes lean over upon each other in such a way as to cause disruption of the binding, and to make it very difficult to withdraw any particular volume without displacing others ; and replacing the volumes after they have been in use is the more laborious. Again, there is not proper provision for placing tables in good light at easy distances from various sets of newspapers. Nor is it possible to make this provision. Further, in order that readers shall consult the papers it is necessary to bring the readers through the Library Book Store, and then to leave them at work, very imperfectly supervised ; for the Library staff cannot spare an attendant to stay with the papers and those using them. Besides the risk of leaving the readers unsupervised, there is the inconvenient necessity of bringing them through the general Book Store. It is found that consulters of newspapers sometimes loiter on II. WANT OF A NEWSPAPER STORE 13 their return, wandering about and examining such books as catch their attention. To these defects is added the very grave fact that the space at our disposal is almost exhausted. The National Library every year acquires the current issues following Daily Newspapers : — Times 4 volumes Scotsman 4 New York Herald 4 >> Freeman’s Journal 4 j > Daily Express 4 5) Irish Times 4 J J Irish Daily Independent 4 Daily Nation 4 >• Cork Constitution 4 Cork Herald 4 > > Cork Examiner 4 > > Belfast News-Letter 4 > > Northern Whig 4 J) Evening Herald (Dublin) 2 >> Evening Telegraph 2 >> Dublin Evening Mail 2 „ 58 volumes Fifty-eight folios of the newspaper size equal at least twenty times that number of ordinary octavos, or 1160 octavos. The Library also acquires the large volumes of The Weekly Independent , United Ireland, Weekly Freeman , and Weekly Times. It will now receive annually from the Royal Dublin Society several newspapers not acquired before, and the Society has presented a great mass filling blanks in the twenty years, 1878 - 97 . Besides, by a large gift from the St. Stephen’s Green 14 THE ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS II. Club were added lately some hundreds of volumes of The Times , Freeman' s Journal, and other daily papers, many of which filled gaps in our sets ; while the rest are that valuable possession, duplicates of the Daily Papers of past years. Daily Papers are among the most perish- able forms of printed record. Yet they are strangely valuable as witnesses of the past, through the very unconsciousness of their self-betrayal. They are not written to hoodwink the scrutiny of the future ! Even their claptrap is a reflection of the opinion and feeling of their readers. Accordingly, as witnesses they increase in worth incalculably as time goes by. Private libraries cannot afford to preserve them. Hence the imperative demand upon a Public National Library to store them and care for them ; and their perishableness makes it right, in a Public National Library, to take duplicates, and even triplicates, if offered as gifts. It is clear that a large well-lighted space with every requisite for the careful shelving of the papers, and for easy access to each volume, and with liberal allowance for the additions of coming years, is required. In a couple of years it will really be painfully difficult to invent new devices for avoiding the disorder which results from overcrowding. Already a large part of the new donations from the Royal Dublin Society and the St. Stephen’s Green Club are piled on the floors. The Ordnance Survey Maps of Great Britain and Ireland in the near future will exhaust the space given to them. At present these maps are lodged in a room half way up the Main Staircase of the Library. We cannot spare a library attendant to stay in this room while maps are being consulted, though efforts are made to give help to a worker, visits being paid to the THE EASTERN WING OF THE LIBRARY II. 15 room from time to time to find out whether he has what he needs. Here is an instance in which valuable books must be left, whether we will it or not, in the power of their consulters, with most imperfect supervision. The Patents Specifications are received unbound in a parcel every week, and immediately are arranged for public search on the top floor of the Book Store. As volumes are completed they are bound ; and the encroach- ment of these volumes on the few vacant shelves left upstairs is already a cause of great anxiety. The undoubted evil, parallel to that mentioned in the case of the Newspapers — that people who consult the patents approach them through the Library Book Store, and are unsupervised in their search, must be remedied. All the special characteristics of a PatentsConsultingRoom should be remembered and provided. There should be places for tables at convenient distances, the lighting should be good, and there should be a little library of books of reference close at hand. The room ought also to be approached very easily from the Reading Room. The searcher should not pass through the general Book Store of the Library. The Trustees in their Reports for 1896 and for 1897 have already pointed out the need for proper provision for Newspapers, and for Patents Specifications, and have stated their opinion that the provision should be made by building the Eastern Wing of the Book Store, which was planned in the architect’s design of the Library as originally accepted. To save money this Eastern Wing was left unfinished, and thereby the opportunity of providing specially adapted storage for certain kinds of book was practically l6 OVERCROWDING OF THE WESTERN WING II. lost for the time. Were this wing now built, it would be possible through the experience gained so to plan it as to improve greatly the administration of the depart- ments which it would accommodate. The removal of Newspapers and Patent Specifications would free the present Book Store from overcrowding with highly beneficial result. The Librarian begs the Trustees to accept his statement that the space cleared would make it possible to improve materially the arrange- ment of the books left behind, and thereby the Library administration in general. A suitable Cataloguing Room for the staff of cataloguers or assistant librarians would be provided by freeing the room now occupied by the Ordnance Survey maps. At present the Librarian’s office is the only cataloguing room available, and the crowding of books and cataloguers into the Librarian’s office is considered in all libraries of considerable size to be an impediment to the efficient discharge of the Librarian’s business. Another need of the Library which could be supplied in the building of the new wing is the need of a Manuscript Room. The Library possesses only a small number of valuable MSS. at present, but more will undoubtedly come as the years pass; and those already here should be lodged in a fire-proof room, with special arrangements for their safety. The desire of the writer is to convince the Trustees — that the efficient working of the National Library of Ireland demands special provision, with enlarged space, for certain collections; that this provision must be made in the near future if grave disorders are to be averted; and that it is to be made most conveniently by building the long delayed Eastern Wing of the Library Book Store. III. Letter to the Trustees on the Need for Additional Library Attendants io th October y 1898 Going back five years — in 1893 there were eight attendants working sixty-seven and a-half hours per week per annum. This was a wholly inadequate staff even then. When the Reading Room is busy, at least six attendants must be free for the ordinary service of books to the reading public at the counter. Thus frequently only two attendants were left for book- collating, book-stamping, arrangement of new books, arrangement of Newspapers, Parliamentary Papers, Patents Specifications, shelf-labelling, aiding Library officers, and numerous other tasks on which the orderly service of a public library depends. And, in case of illness or a holiday, or at meal-times, the staff was so reduced that everything must be postponed to the im- mediate supplying of books to the readers at the counter. Meanwhile this was itself being rendered difficult and uncertain by the growth of disorder consequent on the compulsory frequentabandonment of the above-mentioned tasks. At the close of 1896 the appointment of two boys as library attendants was sanctioned. The staff numbered then eight senior attendants, and two boy attendants. In September, 1897, the Library lost one of the senior attendants, and another boy was appointed, to make up the total to ten attendants. In the beginning of 1898, when the reduction of hours to sixty per week was l8 INCREASE IN READERS’ATTENDANCES AND IN BOOKS III. believed to be imminent, the Trustees obtained permission to appoint two boys on a temporary footing to learn their work as attendants. Since January, 1898, the Library staff has been as follows : — Seven men attendants, each working, on an average, sixty- seven and a-half hours per week ; three boy attendants, each working forty-eight hours per week; two boys temporarily employed, each working forty-eight hours per week. There has been a great increase in the readers’ attend- ances : In 1878, the first year of the existence of the National Library of Ireland, there were 27,452 readers’ attendances — with four library attendants. In 1893, five years ago, there were 113,888 readers’ attendances, with eight library attendants. In 1897, when the Library reached its twentieth year, there were 137,832 readers’ attendances, with ten library attendants, of whom three were boys. The rise in attendances of readers is still progressing. During 1898 there has been an increase. Between January 1 and September 30, 1897, there were 98,818 attendances. Between January 1 and September 30, 1898, there were 102,521. Thus nine months of 1898, when compared with the corresponding nine months of 1897, show an increase of 3,703. There has been a great increase in the total number of books in the Library. Consider the following facts : — Between 1878 and 1897 the catalogued accessions were over 33,000 (besides the uncatalogued works which must ere long be brought into circulation). Moreover there are 23,000 volumes in the Joly Collection to be arranged and stamped, and in the unbound masses of Prints, Music, and Miscellanea some thousands more. And when these are brought into circulation their admi- III. INCREASED INFLUX OF DONATIONS 19 nistration will be a very great additional activity. As the stock of books increases, the labour of distribution to readers and of return to place increases, and the possibility of error increases. Not only are the attendances of readers, and the total number of books in the Library increasing every year — the rate of acquisition of books, newspapers, and official publications is increasing. Trouble has been taken by the Trustees of late years to encourage dona- tions both from public bodies and private donors. While the result has been satisfactory as regards the ultimate enrichment of the Library, the power of the staff to assimilate into the Library and to arrange the works received has been out-stripped, and it must be stated with deep regret, that prudence makes it necessary occasionally to refrain from inviting some gift of valuable books the administration of which is beyond our powers. The Royal Dublin Society has presented the Newspapers of the past twenty years, and in future will present all the daily papers which it takes. 7'he mere preparation of these for binding, to say nothing of after arrange- ment and care, is a very large increase of labour. Large masses of the Ordnance Survey Maps of the British Islands are received every year. The arrange- ment and binding of these is at present not up to date, and matters will grow worse unless there be an increase in the staff of attendants. Within the past two years the Trustees were obliged to decline the free gift of the American Patent Specifications, not only because there actually is not space for them in the unfinished Library Building, but because the staff is insufficient to under- take the responsibility of administering them. These American Patents are desired by Dublin inventors and mechanicians. 20 3 0112105944000 GENERAL SUMMARY OF FACTS A new room for Large Books (especially books on the Fine Arts) will shortly be opened, with tables for occa- sional special workers. It is obvious that an attendant must sometimes be detached for duty in this room, and that in general it will add labour. To sum up — among the reasons for an increase of staff are the following facts : — (a) Increase ol attendances of readers in four years (1893-7) by 23,944, in nineteen years (1878-97) by 110,380, and indication that the increase is going on in the current year. (b) Increase of the Library : By the addition of the Joly Collection, 25,000 volumes : By the ordinary acces- sions of the last five years (1893-7), 12,000 volumes : By the ordinary accessions of the past twenty years (1878-97), 33,000 volumes — omitting the reckoning of thousands uncatalogued ! (< c ) Increase of the rate of accession to the Library, through the growing power of the Library to attract donations, as its name and its position as the Public National Library of Ireland become more widely known. ( d ) Increase of the Library premises ; and of its re- sponsibilities, as the desire for education intensifies, and the reading public grows not only larger, but more exigent. Browne and Nolan, Nassau Street, Dublin