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The manuscripts have been enriched by several private collections. Special interest attaches to the papers of the Mercy-Argenteau family, one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Belgium, the historical record of whose activities goes back to the tenth century.

The publications for the year embrace bibliographical lists on Federal control, water rights, boycotts, and eight-hour working day. The music division has brought out a catalogue of opera librettos and a monograph on "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The admission of books to the parcel post, beginning with March 16, 1914, is having an important bearing on library development, particularly on the work of State library commissions, which can now reach cheaply and quickly localities remote from freight or express stations.

The Underwood tariff, which made important changes in the duties on books and their material, did not affect libraries, as the clause permitting incorporated institutions to import books free of duty remains unchanged.

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES.

It has been asserted in the past that college and university libraries have not kept pace with public libraries. Recently, however, the situation has shown signs of improvement. At many universities the library building has been made the architectural center of the campus and this is having an intellectual influence. The dignity and importance of the university library have recently been emphasized in a number of public addresses. At the meeting of the Association of American Universities, at Urbana, Ill., November, 1913,1 Dr. W. Dawson Johnston, speaking on "The Library as a University Factor," declared that a library is not so much a collection of books as a form of service. At the same meeting the position of advanced scholarship was voiced by Dean Ford, of the University of Minnesota, who said that without access to library facilities no university is a university; that it ought to be a commonplace of graduate school policy that the library be recognized as the one all-important institution making possible or impossible, by its strength or weakness, real university work by students and instructors. A municipal reference bureau has been organized by the general extension division of the University of Minnesota, which will act as a clearing house for information and ideas concerning municipal problems. Its information will be at the disposal of all cities of the State. A similar bureau was recently established in the University of California. The sum of $65,000 was given to the University of California for a classroom and library building at the university farm and agricultural school at Davis.

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At Yale University a record of the amount spent for books, according to subject, is kept for guidance in determining the policy of future purchases. A library manual was prepared containing a description of all operations in the library. During the year the library borrowed 111 items from 15 libraries and loaned 239 to 44 libraries. The need of additional buildings for the central library is keenly felt.1 In Princeton University greater use than ever before was made of student help. The experiment was made as the result of representations by the library that (1) for the student who is working his way through college the opportunity to earn money in the library is often more appreciated by the student than free scholarship; and (2) that the library can use for library work, or for the preparation of aids to research, or by organizing actual research, any amount of student help that can be provided.

Student use of the library in the University of California is increasing so rapidly that the reading room seating 700 in the Doe Library, completed only four years ago, is already taxed to its limit and plans are on foot for an early enlargement. There were added 22,325 volumes to the library during the year, making a total of about 282,000 volumes now in the library. The staff numbers about 40, exclusive of student assistants, and the appropriation for the past year was $80,500.

LIBRARY INSTRUCTION IN COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND NORMAL SCHOOLS.

The Bureau of Education during the year issued a bulletin containing the results of an informal inquiry into library instruction in colleges, universities, and normal schools. From this bulletin it appears that 91 universities and colleges reported courses more or less adequate and complete in the book arts. Of the normal schools, 93 reported instruction in library methods, emphasis being laid on the organization and administration of school libraries and the study of children's literature. Supplementing the information given in the bulletin the following should be noted:

Colby College, Waterville, Me., Dr. Charles P. Chipman, librarian.—Two courses in bibliography: Course "A," required of all freshmen, consists of individual instruction given by the librarian or his assistant; course "1-2" is three periods, a total of five hours, weekly. The latter course treats of books and their makers; libraries, ancient and modern; cataloguing, classification, and the making of bibliographies. "The aim of this course is not to prepare students for library work, but to give them such a knowledge of library science as will be of practical value in teaching a professional study of business."

1 Those who are fearful of the spread of disease through books will be reassured by an interesting investigation made at Yale University this year. During the cleaning of the library a chemical analysis of the dust was made. About 50 per cent was mineral matter thought to be coal ashes and street dust, and the remaining 50 per cent was organic material, paper fiber, wood fiber, and molds. No mouth bacteria were found, and in general the analysis showed the harmlessness of the dust.

2 1914, No. 34.

University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., William E. Henry, librarian.-Freshmen in the college of arts and sciences are required to take one hour a week the first semester in instruction in the use of the library and the use of books; one hour a week the second semester in the choice of studies and selecting a vocation. One credit is given for the year's work.

State College of Washington, Pullman, Wash., Albert S. Wilson, librarian.-This institution has a course of nine lectures on the use of the library, which is required of all freshmen and is open to others. The course is made practical by requiring, in connection with each recitation, answers in writing to a set of questions involving the use of various catalogues and bibliographic tools. Students are divided into classes of 30 for this course.

The library courses extend through the junior and senior years and consist of five recitations per week through the four semesters and six laboratory hours per week through the last three semesters. The completion of this curriculum gives the degree of bachelor of arts and a certificate indicating the amount of instruction in library

economy.

NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Tempe Normal School, Tempe, Ariz., Ruth M. Wright, librarian.-The object of the course in library instruction is to familiarize students with the use of books and libraries. There is special work for the class on the valuation of a school library. The following topics are considered: Structure and arranged parts of a book; classification and arrangement of the library; use of the card catalogue and periodicals and dictionaries. In the second year periodicals and periodical indexes, together with reference books, are considered, while members of the senior class give attention to buying and selecting books with special reference to children's literature; use of Government documents.

Kent State Normal School, Kent, Ohio, Margaret Dunbar, head of department of library science.-Six weeks' course required of all students entering for the normal certificate. The course is planned to help the student to get the best he can from the library while he resides at the school and to help the prospective teacher to select, organize, care for, and use a school library.

State Normal School, Monmouth, Oreg., Mabel G. West, librarian.-Courses in library methods:

Course I is a course of five lectures required of all entering students, the main idea of which is to make the students at home in the library. The work is given during the first two weeks of each semester and covers the following: Rules and regulations; classification and arrangement of books; use of the card catalogue; magazine indexes; reference books; investigating a subject in the library; work of the Oregon State Library, etc.

Course II is required of all students before they graduate from the Normal. Two periods a week are given to the work, which runs through a semester of 20 weeks. One period each week is devoted to the technical side of the work and one to the study of children's books. Each lecture on the technical part of the work is followed by a practice period.

Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rockhill, S. C., Ida J. Dacus, librarian.— Two courses: One in reference work, which takes up the subjects of classification, catalogues, indexes, and standard reference books, and is required of all freshmen; the second course is one in elementary library methods for school-teachers, and is required of every student taking the normal course for graduation.

Whitewater State Normal School, Whitewater, Wis.-Courses are given in library methods and library use, as follows:

Library methods (18 weeks).-First semester, 8.55-9.45. Senior elective. The course in library methods offers instruction in the care and use of school libraries and

includes the study of the make-up of a book and its repair, the principles of book selection, the mechanical preparation of books for the shelves, classification, accessioning, shelf listing, and cataloguing, the township library law and discussion of the books on the township library list, the use of pictures and periodicals in the school, and methods of instructing children in the use of books and the library. Each student prepares a sample catalogue and does other practical work in connection with the class instruction.

Library use. A series of six lessons given by the librarian in connection with the required English courses, designed to give a knowledge of the use of books and a library. It includes a study of the resources of the normal library, their classification and arrangement, the catalogue, indexes, and other bibliographical aids; an acquaintance with the more useful reference books; and the making of a bibliography.

The State of Michigan has made special efforts to do library work in normal schools and other institutions preparing teachers. Mrs. Mary C. Spencer, State librarian, reports that for eight years the State library and the State board of library commissioners have conducted summer schools in connection with the Marquette and Kalamazoo County normal and the Ferris Institute at Big Rapids. More recently this work has been extended to Bay View. The Northern State Normal School of Michigan was one of the first normal schools in the United States to give a special course in children's literature. This was organized in 1889, in charge of Miss G. P. Hill.1

That the importance of library instruction is becoming better realized in institutions other than colleges and normal schools is indicated by the course given at the Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa. Since 1910 Dr. Frank G. Lewis, the librarian, has given a course of studies in library economy. The following is a list of subjects: Significance of books and library science; purchase and handling of books; book classification and arrangement; cataloguing and catalogues; periodical literature; indexes, and how to use them; bibliography and bibliographies; library buildings and library administration; the library and the community; library extension and traveling libraries; the minister and the local library.

LIBRARY SCHOOLS.2

A new library school, especially intended to prepare librarians for California cities and counties, was started at the California State Library in January, 1914. The course of instruction is similar to that of other library schools. No tuition is charged.

The Riverside (Cal.) Public Library conducted a six-week winter library school from January 19 to February 28, 1914. The library school at Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, was discontinued in June, 1914. The library school of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, is offering a course this year on "The public library and com

1 Information furnished by Miss M. A. Newberry, of the New York Public Library.
2 For list of schools, see "Library activities during 1912-13," in Educ. Rep., 1913, vol. 1, p. 326.
3 See p.-.

munity welfare." The library school of the New York Public Library announces a municipal reference course for the year 1914-15. The library schools are tending to give their courses greater elasticity to meet the special requirements of their students, opportunities being given for specialization in cataloguing, administration, children's work, municipal reference work, normal work, or for whatever department of library work the students wish especially to prepare. Instruction in library work and methods for those either holding library positions or under appointment to positions was given by many State library commissions and State universities. Included in these were schools in Indiana, California, Missouri, Minnesota, Utah, Michigan (State library), Wisconsin, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and at Columbia University, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Tennessee, Simmons College, and Chautauqua, N. Y. A correspondence course is offered by the University of Chicago. Library institutes, held in a number of States, are given special prominence in New York in the work of the State library and the State library association. The total attendance in 1913, in the number of libraries or communities represented and in the number of persons participating exceeded that of any previous year. There were represented 423 institutions or places compared with 401 the year before. The New York State library school held an institute in July, 1914, for district superintendents of schools.

The University of Wisconsin library school has made an important change in its arrangement with the university regarding the jointcourse students. Previously these students took the library school work during their junior and senior years, mingling it with their university work and receiving 20 credits of the 120 required for graduation. Under the new arrangements students must have at least 96 of the 120 credits before beginning library school work. This plan results in better preliminary preparation and more intensive work by the students.

In 1913 the library schools graduated about 300 young men and women, principally women, ready to take up active library duties. Nearly all the large public libraries of the country conduct training classes to provide for their own needs.

STATE AID, LIBRARY COMMISSIONS, AND TRAVELING LIBRARIES.

The work of the State library commissions shows expansion in all parts of the country; even those commissions whose appropriations were not increased have succeeded in rendering increased services.

New York's report for the past year is noteworthy. The 477 free lending libraries reporting for 1913 possessed a stock of 4,707,472

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