CHAPTER XXV

ISSUE METHODS

=376.= In modern library practice, methods of book-registration involving the use of ledgers or day-books have now been entirely abandoned, save in a few proprietary and subscription libraries. It will, therefore, be needless to describe charging systems so generally discarded, and it will suffice if reference is made to the first edition of this work, in which many forms were illustrated and explained.

=377.= The great objection to all charging ledgers in book form was their want of movability and adjustability. The entries when once made were fixed, either in a running sequence under a date of issue, a borrower’s name, or a book’s title. If, for any purpose, it should be desirable to manipulate the entries, in order to secure greater accuracy, or some definite record of a special kind, the book ledgers did not lend themselves to this sort of treatment. There was no kind of movability possible, and questions which might be answered readily enough if entries were movable and separate, could not be put to any issue record in volume form. Chiefly because of this, the slip or card methods of charging were introduced, which enable registration to be conducted in a variety of ways for different purposes. It is impossible to say when or where cards were first introduced, but as they have been used for commercial purposes for years before the public library system was established, it follows that many minds must have discovered the utility and convenience of movable entries. There are many varieties of card or slip charging in existence, and innumerable methods of working or applying them. Movable entry systems are in every respect the most interesting, not only because they present greater possibilities to the ingenious mind, but because they are more scientific and more natural.

=378.= There have been numerous systems devised for recording issues of books from public libraries, but in none have so many variations been introduced as in the great group using cards as a basis. There is hardly any limit to be put to the variety of ways in which cards can be used; and, without describing every system in detail, it will nevertheless be interesting to select and describe typical plans from among the more practical varieties, as representative of each particular group. The fundamental idea of all card systems of charging is that each book or volume shall be represented by a movable card, which can be stored in various ways when the book is on the shelf, and used to register or charge the book, when issued, to its borrower.

=379.= When cards are used as movable entries, there is no need to keep a column for showing date of return; and, before describing a method of working, the following specimen ruling for a card is given:

+------------------------------------+ | =F 9432= | | HOPE | | | | Prisoner of Zenda | +========+=========+========+========+ | 8276 | Jul. 19 | 2641 | Nov. 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

FIG. 139.--Book Issue-Card (Section 379).

The first and third columns may be used for the borrowers’ numbers, and the second and fourth for dates of issue, as shown above, or all four columns may be used for borrowers’ numbers. The backs of the cards may be ruled the same, without the heading. These cards are kept in a strict numerical order of progressive numbers in trays or drawers. When a book is chosen by a borrower, the card representing it is withdrawn from its place, the borrower’s number and date of issue entered, the date of issue stamped on the date label of the book, and the transaction is complete when the book-card is placed in a tray, or behind a special block bearing the date of issue. At the end of the day the cards are all sorted up in numerical order, as far as possible, the statistics made up from them, and they are then put away in the dated issue trays, or behind date blocks in drawers. When a book is returned, its date and number direct the assistant to the exact number of the book-card, which is withdrawn, and at leisure replaced in the main sequence. No other marking off is necessary, and the book is immediately available for issue. Overdues gradually declare themselves, as day after day passes, and the cards for books in circulation diminish in number as returns are made. This is card charging of a simple kind, which is rarely used nowadays, as in cases of overdues, queries, etc., it necessitates reference to the borrowers’ register, and such references are always a nuisance; but it forms the basis of all the more elaborate scientific systems.

=380.= The pocket system of card-charging is that most used in the United Kingdom, not only as a separate method, but also frequently in connexion with, or as an adjunct to, indicators. This is a loose pocket system in which each book is represented by a manila card (about 4 × 2 inches) ruled on both sides to take borrowers’ numbers and dates of issues. Every borrower is represented by a card of a similar kind, but one inch shorter (see Fig. 140). When a book is issued its card is taken from the tray, and, with the borrower’s card, is placed in a loose manila pocket, the date of issue is stamped on the date label inside the book and the borrower receives the volume. It is customary in most open access libraries to hand the borrower his card when his book is discharged. If he does not want another book at the moment he retains his card for the future, but if he does want another he selects one in the usual way, and hands it and his ticket to the assistant at the exit charging wicket, where the charge is made very rapidly by simply selecting the book-card and “marrying” it with the borrower’s card in a loose pocket. In some libraries the charges thus made are simply sorted by book numbers and arranged behind projecting date guides in the issue trays. In others this is postponed till the book numbers have been carried on to the book-cards. Whatever method of registration is adopted the ultimate result is that a complete charge is got by mechanical means, which obviates the need for writing at the moment of issue. The plan of keeping the book-cards in pockets inside the books has been adopted in some libraries, but of course this destroys the value of the system as an indicator to the staff of books in and out. At the same time, in open access libraries particularly, it facilitates service at the moment of issue. The conjoined cards of this loose pocket system appear as in the diagrams on page 355 (Figs. 142-3).

=381.= The following diagrams show one of the principal systems of card charging now used in British libraries. Each book has a small triangular pocket inside the front board, in which is placed a small book-card (2 × 1⅛ inches) of manila, on which is written the class number, author and title of the book it represents. In cases of duplicate copies it is advisable to write the accession number on the book-card to facilitate stocktaking. Each book also has a date label inside the front board facing the book pocket (Fig. 141).

+---------------------------+ | 4622 A 32 | } Book-card | BALFOUR | } projection. +---------------------------+ | 5916 30 Mar., 1908 | } | RICHARD GARNETT, | } | 1 Museum Street. | } +---------------+ | } { | \---+------+ } { | \ | | } Borrower’s { | \ | | } card { | \+------+ } projection. { | \ | } { | \ | } { | \----+ } { | \ | } Pocket. { | \ | } { | \ | } { | \| { | | } { | | } { | | } Pocket. { | | } { | | } { | | } +---------------------------+

FIG. 140.--Book and Borrower’s Cards combined in Pocket (Section 380).

Each borrower has a neat linen-covered or other card bearing the name of the library, the name, address and number of the borrower and the date when the card was issued, or better, when it will expire, if periodical renewals are demanded. When a book is issued, the borrower hands his card and the book chosen to the assistant, who takes the book-card from the book pocket and places it in the pocket of the borrower’s card, stamps the date of issue or return on the date label and issues the book. The charges are then arranged in trays as described below, and thus give a perfect record without writing.

----------------------------------+ | | +-------------+ | | E 100·3 | | | BALFOUR | <------- Book-card. | BOTANY | | | | | +----|___ | | | `---.__ | | | `. | | | \| | Book }--> | \ | Pocket.} | \ | | \ | | + | | ! | | | | +---------------------+ | |

FIG. 141.--Book Pocket and Card.

=382. Charging Appliances.=--An important part of a card method is the tray for holding and displaying the cards, and of this there are a number of kinds in use in libraries using indicators and in those working without them. For many reasons, but above all for economy of space, it is best to use a comparatively small-sized charging card, the advantage being that all the accessories, such as trays, guides, etc., are correspondingly small, cheap and easily handled.

<---------- 1¼″ -----------> +--------------------------+ | | ^ | Watson | | | (John) | | | | | | 30 Thornhill Square. | | | | | | 5963 | | | | | | 30th Sept., 1906. | 3″ | | | +--------------------------+ | | | | | BOOKTON | | | | | | PUBLIC | | | | | | LIBRARIES. | | | | | +--------------------------+ V

FIG. 142.--Borrower’s Card with Pocket.

+--------------------------+ | | | Watson |<--{ Borrower’s | (John) | { Card. | | | +------------------+ | | | E 100·3 |---|<--{Book- | | | | {Card. | | Balfour | | | | | | +---+------------------+---+ | | | BOOKTON | | | | PUBLIC | | | | LIBRARIES. | | | +--------------------------+

FIG. 143.--Borrower’s Card and Book-card conjoined.

=383.= A standard size of card tray made of wood is shown in Fig. 144.

This tray (_b_) is provided with a rod (_a_) for securing the guides (_e_) in a continuous slot (_c_) at the bottom, to carry and secure the slot-fastening (_f_) of the guides (_e_). It has cut-away sides to facilitate the handling of the cards; a back slide or block (_d_) to retain the cards at any convenient or required angle; angle-bars and catch-pieces of brass (_g_ and _h_) to secure a series of trays firmly in place, and prevent upsetting or knocking about. For every kind of card charging, whether in connexion with an indicator or without, this style of single tray, capable of indefinite expansion, is preferable to drawers or frames divided into compartments. Each tray will hold with its guides approximately 1000 cards, and, when divided up into hundreds, any number can be found quite rapidly.

=384.= The guides are generally made of steel, enamelled and figured, or from vulcanized fibre, xylonite or aluminium, bearing the numbers stamped upon them. Every charging system of this kind should have a set of nine guides for each thousand numbers, numbered simply 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or having the hundreds running progressively throughout, 100, 200, 300, 400, etc. There should also be at least two complete sets of date guides, numbered from 1 to 31 inclusive, a set of alphabetical guides (for unclaimed borrowers’ cards) from A to Z, and the miscellaneous guides for fines, marked 1d., 2d., 3d., 6d., etc., “Overdues,” “Renewals,” “Guarantors Notified,” etc. All these are necessary for working card-charging as described in this Chapter.

=385.= It is advisable to provide a card-sorting tray, which may be a simple rack divided into narrow compartments representing thousands. The compartments need not be more than an inch wide, as the cards can lie just as easily on their edges as flat, and with greater economy of space. Where fiction is kept in a separate series of trays, or the book-issue cards are classed, then, of course, some modifications will be required both in book-issue and sorting trays.

=386.= The indicator, as a library tool, is almost entirely an English appliance, and it is somewhat curious, considering their love for, and extensive use of, mechanical contrivances, that American librarians have never taken kindly to it. Various abortive experiments have been tried at Boston and elsewhere with indicating devices of several patterns, but the almost universal opinion of American librarians is against indicators in any shape or form. This holds good as regards colonial and foreign libraries generally, though one or two Canadian and Australasian libraries have adopted indicators of an English design. In England, on the contrary, the invention of these appliances has gone on unremittingly for sixty years, and there are about twenty different varieties, each possessing its own merit or ingenuity.

=387.= An indicator is a device for indicating or registering information about books, in such a way that it can be seen either by the staff alone, or by the public and staff both. The information usually conveyed to the public is some kind of indication of the presence or absence of books, and the methods of accomplishing this almost invariably take the form of displayed numbers, qualified in such a way as to indicate books _in_ and _out_. Thus, small spaces on a screen may be numbered to represent books, and their presence in the library indicated by the space being blank, or their absence from the library shown by the space being occupied by a card or block. Or, colours may be used to indicate books in and out, or a change in the position of the block representing a book. No doubt the idea of the mechanical indicator was early evolved from the needs of the first public libraries. The first practical application of it was in 1863, when Mr Charles Dyall, then Librarian at the Hulme Branch of the Manchester Public Libraries, had one made for actual use by the public and the staff. This seems to be the very earliest English indicator, and Mr Dyall is entitled to full credit as the pioneer inventor.

=388.= The ELLIOT INDICATOR, 1870, is very fully described in a pamphlet entitled “A Practical Explanation of the Safe and Rapid Method of Issuing Library Books, by J. Elliot, inventor of the system. Wolverhampton, 1870.” This pamphlet gives diagrams and descriptions of the Elliot Indicator in substantially the same form in which it exists at the present day. The numbers are alongside the ticket shelves or spaces, and a specially thick borrower’s ticket is used with coloured ends to show books out and overdue. The indicator is a large frame, divided into columns by wide uprights carrying 100 numbers each, which correspond with the little shelves, formed of tin, dividing each column.

There are 100 shelves and numbers in every column, and the indicator is made in several sizes, according to the width of the borrower’s card used. The public side is covered with glass. The method of working is simple. The borrower scans the indicator till he finds the space opposite the number he wants vacant. This indicates that the book he wants is in, and he then hands his ticket to the assistant, stating the number of the book he requires. The assistant enters the book number and date of issue in the borrower’s card, and inserts it in the indicator in the space against the number. The book is then fetched, and before issue it is registered on a specially ruled day-sheet, by means of a stroke, to record the day’s circulation for statistical purposes. When the book is returned its number directs to the space on the indicator occupied by the borrower’s card, which is withdrawn and returned to the owner, when all liability for fines is cleared. Overdues are detected by means of differently coloured ends to the borrowers’ cards, or the periodical examination of the indicator. This indicator, which occupies a very large amount of counter-space, has been, or is, in use at Wolverhampton, Newcastle-on-Tyne and Paisley.

+-----+----------------------------+ { Space | 491 | |<-{ for | +----------------------------+ { Ticket. | 492 | | | +----------------------------+ { Ticket in | 493 | ########################## |<-{ space, | +----------------------------+ { indicating | 494 | | { book out. | +----------------------------+ | 495 | | | +----------------------------+ | 496 | | | +----------------------------+ | | | +-----+----------------------------+

FIG. 146.--Diagram of Elliot Indicator (Section 388).

=389.= COTGREAVE INDICATOR, 1877.--This indicator is that which has been most used in this country, and was the invention of Alfred Cotgreave, then Librarian of the Wednesbury Public Library, in 1877. An account of its structure and working from one of the descriptive circulars issued in connexion with it will enable anyone to gather a good idea of its appearance and use:

“It consists of a wooden or iron frame, fitted with minute zinc shelves, generally 100 in a column. Upon each of these shelves is placed a small metal-bound ledger (3 inches × 1 inch), containing a number of leaves, ruled and headed for the number of borrower’s ticket, and date of issue, also date of return or other items as may be required, numbered or lettered at each end, and arranged numerically in the frames. One part of it is also lettered for entries of date of purchase, title of book, etc. The metal case has turned-up ends, and the numbers appear on a ground coloured red at one end and blue at the other, one colour showing books _out_, the other books _in_; other colours may be used if preferred. The _out_ numbers can be covered altogether with a date slide if required. The change of colour is effected by simply reversing the ledger in the indicator frame. The public side of the indicator is protected by glass.

“The _modus operandi_ is as follows: A borrower having chosen a book from the catalogue, consults the indicator, and finding the required number to be on _blue_, denoting _in_, asks for the book corresponding, at the same time tendering his library ticket. The assistant withdraws the indicator ledger, makes the necessary entries, inserts borrower’s ticket, and reverses the ledger, which then shows the _red_ colour, signifying _out_. He then hands out the book asked for. The borrower’s ticket will remain in this number until he changes his book, when his ticket will, of course, be transferred to the next number required, and the returned number will be reversed again, showing by the _blue_ colour that the book it represents is again _in_, and is immediately available to any other reader requiring it. The entries need not be made at the time of issue, but may stand over until a more convenient time.

“When a book is not required the ticket is returned to the borrower, and acts as a receipt, exonerating him from liabilities.”

There are many ways of working this indicator in order to obtain certain records or notifications of overdues, and nearly every library has some modification of its own.

It is not necessary to trace the history of the indicator in any further detail, because, with one exception, the forms described comprise all that have been introduced to any extent in English public libraries.

=390.= Another indicator which has been introduced to some extent was invented in 1894, and has several features which may be described here.

It consists of a series of wooden blocks, each of which is numbered with 250 numbers in gilt figures, and each number has a slot under it large enough to hold a book-card with red coloured or white ends, bearing the same number as the slot. These blocks can be built into columns of 1000 with the numbers running consecutively, the whole being lodged in a glazed frame. This indicator differs from other varieties in having the numbers qualified by the red or white line of the card under the numbers to indicate books _in_; when the slot is blank, the book is _out_. “The withdrawal of the book-card is the method of indicating books out, and it is the union of this card with the borrower’s card which forms the basis of the subsequent registration. When a book is issued the assistant withdraws the card from the recorder and places it in the reader’s ticket, which is formed like a pocket, fetches the book, stamps it with the date of issue, and so completes the transaction at the moment of service. Afterwards, the readers’ pocket tickets containing the book-cards are assembled and arranged according to classes in numerical order. They are then posted, by book and reader numbers only, on to a daily issue sheet or register, and the date of issue is stamped on each book-card, if this has not already been done at the moment of service. The conjoined book- and reader-cards are then placed in a tray bearing the date of issue, in the order of classes and book numbers, or in one series of book numbers as may be needful.” In other respects this charging system resembles the card methods described in Section 380.

=391.= The only other indicator which is designed on an entirely different principle from any of the foregoing is the Adjustable Indicator proposed by the author in a paper read before the Library Association in 1895, and published in _The Library_ for 1896, with illustrations. This was a practical proposal for an adjustable indicator in which its size should be limited by the number of books in actual _circulation_, and not by the number in _stock_. There is a very important point here, as a library with a stock of 30,000 volumes would require an indicator occupying about thirty-eight feet run of counter space. If it never had more than 4000 volumes out at one time, these could be shown on the limited indicator above named within a space of not more than six or eight feet. This is a most important question, and it is inevitable that, in many libraries where conditions and feeling are opposed to progressive changes, this continual growth of indicator space will force library authorities into the serious consideration of less crowded methods.

=392.= On the principle of limiting the indicator to one particular class of literature, several varieties have been introduced at Brighton, Wimbledon, Glasgow and Lewisham. So many libraries now use indicators for Fiction only that there is some advantage in having special appliances for the purpose. The Glasgow indicator consists of a series of detached columns with adjustable number-blocks representing the books, arranged so that insertions can be made at any point. The Lewisham or Graham indicator is an alphabetical one, and consists of an ordinary pigeon-holed frame, into which fit small numbered blocks of wood or metal bearing the names of authors and similar blocks with the numbers of their works. The chief advantage of this form is that it is self-contained, and requires no key to enable borrowers to ascertain what are the titles of books indicated _in_. A simple reference to the author’s name in the ordinary catalogue enables this to be done. An indicator on similar lines has been invented by Cotgreave, who applied the idea to a magazine indicator.

+---+----------------+ Out .. | ● | ARGOSY. | |---+----------------+ In ... | ○ | ART JOURNAL. | +---+----------------+

FIG. 148.--Diagram of Periodicals Indicator (Section 393).

=393.= Indicators are occasionally used for recording and indicating the issue of the parts of periodicals, both in lending libraries and reading-rooms. The reading-room indicator simply shows what periodicals are in use or available, in cases where they are kept behind a barrier instead of being spread over tables or racks. There are examples of this indicator at the Public Libraries of St Saviour’s, Southwark, and Finsbury. The principle is simple. The titles of magazines are mounted upon narrow blocks of wood, arranged loosely in columns so as to be adjustable, within a glazed frame. The back of this frame is open to the staff only. Against the end of each title a hole is drilled to take a round peg which is coloured black at one end and white at the other. The white ends are shown when a magazine is _in_, and when it is issued the peg is reversed to show the black end. This indicates _out_.

=394.= As a substitute for indicators, and an approach to open access, many libraries provide a show-case for new books on the lending library counter, to enable readers to see the additions as they are made. In some libraries these show-cases are not glazed on the public side, so that the readers have the additional privilege of examining the new books as well as merely seeing them. Certain libraries, like Birkenhead and St George’s-in-the East, Stepney, have whole departments of books arranged behind wire or glass within seeing distance of the readers, and they have the option of choice by bindings and titles, which, if not much better, is as good as choosing from catalogue entries, and at any rate gives the semblance of freedom and closer touch with the books.

=395.= At one time a considerable controversy, often conducted with surprising feeling, raged in England over the respective merits of indicator and open access methods. This continued from about 1894, when James Duff Brown inaugurated the safe-guarded open shelf plus card-charging method at Clerkenwell (now Finsbury Central) Library. His liberalizing action necessarily threatened the property of those who owned indicator patents--some of them librarians unfortunately--and an astonishing number of objections to each method were then discovered by the advocates of either (some of them honest). The younger librarians will have none of this controversy. It is a purely impersonal question as to which is the better system, and the gradual extension of the open access system seems to have settled the matter in its favour. It is clear that with advancing education the public will question the right of the libraries to erect barriers, however ingenious and practical, between the books and their readers. All that it seems necessary to say here is that librarians should be able to examine both systems in actual working, study the results obtained, and form their own conclusions without having their integrity or morality challenged because of their conclusions.

=396.= BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, J. D. Charging Systems. _In his_ Library Appliances, p. 20.

Dana, J. C. (_Ed._). The Charging System. _In_ Mod. American Lib. Econ., 1909.

Plummer, M. W. Loan Systems. U.S. Educ. Rept., 1892-1893, vol. i., p. 898.

Stewart, J. D., and Others. Open Access Libraries, 1915.

Vitz, C. P. P. Loan Work. A.L.A. Man. of Lib. Econ., Preprint of