Part 23

Mr. FLETCHER: The committee have corresponded with some of the magazine publishers, and if any are disposed to consider what is here proposed an ideal system, your attention may be called to the fact that several of our magazine publishers are carrying it out. For instance, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.--I am not mentioning them as superior to others; others might be mentioned--but in their reply to a tentative letter Houghton, Mifflin & Co. say that "in all of our publications every one of these recommendations is strictly carried out." They took pride in replying to us that they believed they were doing exactly what we wanted--and several other publishers.

G. M. JONES: I understand the report to recommend that title-pages and indexes be fastened into the last number of the volume. Now it seems that in many cases it would be very much better to have them left loose. The case is this: In almost all public libraries of any size periodicals are put into some kind of a binder. On many accounts binders which perforate are the best, but we do not wish to perforate title-page and index, if we can help it, especially the title-page, and I would like to inquire why the committee considered it so essential that the title-page and index should be fastened into the number?

Mr. FLETCHER: These questions were all considered by the committee, and I would say when I first drew up my suggestion on this point it was that title-page and index should be sent loose; but I found an overwhelming argument against that, when we came to consider that they were desired to be with every completing number; that those completing numbers are sold to the people in railroad trains and elsewhere and are coming into the second-hand periodical market, where we must look for many to make up our sets. Now as to the point which Mr. Jones has spoken of. If the magazine is to be perforated to be put in the binder, as the completing number is to have the title and index, as we proposed, in a separate section, it can be removed by undoing the stitching, or sewing, if it is sewed. That can be done before it is put into the binder. Of course there is no necessity for ruining, the stitching in its entirety. There may be some little objection there, but it is so slight that it seemed to the committee entirely counterbalanced.

Mr. JONES: Mr. Fletcher's reply is perfectly satisfactory on that point.

W. S. BISCOE: One other suggestion: Do I understand from Mr. Fletcher, if there is a table of contents, that the index be put after the title-page?

Mr. FLETCHER: No, the suggestion is that if there is an alphabetical index and a table of contents, the index should be planned and arranged at the end of the volume, but that if only an index is furnished, and no table of contents, that would be in accordance with the usual practice in such cases--the index should go, like a table of contents, after the title-page.

Mr. BISCOE: If there is no table of contents the alphabetical index is to go after the title-page? It seems to me desirable that it should always go at the end of the volume.

Mr. FLETCHER: I am very glad that point has been called attention to. I should like it if Mr. Biscoe would suggest an amendment. According to the report, when such an index is furnished, and no table of contents, the index should be printed to follow the title-page. We might say: if an alphabetical index is furnished, it should be paged to go at the end of the volume.

T. L. MONTGOMERY: Was not the committee's report to provide for the printing of the alphabetical index in the place of a table of contents, thereby making it one section?

Mr. FLETCHER: The advantage of that would be that there would be something to go with the title-page to make up the section. The title-page should be part of a section for binding as a separate section. I wonder if most of the librarians present haven't had the same exasperating experience which I have so often had with those title-pages which are separate leaves, and have to be pasted into the volume. There is hardly any practice so vicious in bookmaking as having the title-page pasted in. It almost always pulls out before the book is in any other respect at all dilapidated.

A. G. JOSEPHSON: I would suggest that the committee recommend that both a table of contents and an index should be furnished.

Mr. FLETCHER: The committee would entirely agree to that, and it could very easily be done. If an alphabetical index, in addition to the table of contents, is furnished, a practice to be preferred might be to consolidate them.

Pres. CARR: I think, Mr. Fletcher, you should be able to modify your report, before printing, to incorporate those suggestions.

F. W. FAXON: If the committee is trying to get at an ideal arrangement, it might be well to suggest that the publishers of magazines have some one who knows something about the contents make the index. We have a magazine in Boston that persists in indexing articles under "a" and "the," and proper names under "John" and "James." But if the committee is trying to get a rule that the publishers will be most likely to adopt, it seems to me they might suggest that the index be published in each concluding number of a volume, even though the index is put in place of that many pages of text. Of course it would not do to suggest that these pages be taken out of advertising, but as the text usually costs the magazine something, publishers would probably be willing to devote four of the pages they would have to pay for to an index, which would cost them much less.

Mr. FLETCHER: I think it would interest the Association to know of an example that Mrs. Fairchild sent me some time ago of the way these indexes are made. Some periodical in New York had an article on motive power for the canals, and in the index it appeared under "Mule, Must the Canal Go?"

The report was approved and referred to the Council.

In the absence of Dr. J. S. BILLINGS the secretary read the

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON "INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE."

Your committee begs to report that the final conference of delegates of the various governments for the purpose of considering an International Catalogue of Scientific Literature was held in London on June 12 and 13, 1900, and, as intimated in the report of your committee last year, owing to the failure of Congress to make it possible for delegates with power to attend, no representatives of the United States were present. Mr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, who was visiting England at the time was informally in conference with various members of the Royal Society and rendered effective service in enabling them to reach a conclusion.

The conference decided to undertake the issuing of the Catalogue provided 300 complete subscriptions were received by October 1st, the quota of the United States in this being 45. During the summer the Smithsonian Institution issued a circular to American libraries and universities and learned societies and scientific men, announcing the fact, with the very gratifying result of the subscription to the equivalent of over 70 complete sets for a period of five years.

A meeting of the International Council to finally arrange for the beginning of the work was held in London on December 12 and 13, 1900, at which the necessary financial arrangements were agreed to, the Royal Society advancing certain sums and agreeing to act as publisher, and being authorized to enter into contracts, etc. Doctor H. Foster Morley was elected director and offices were secured at 34 and 35 Southampton street, Strand, London, W. C. The initial work has begun. The preparation of a list of periodicals to be indexed and a more careful revision of the schedules was the first work to be done. Thus far the periodical lists for Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Japan, Portugal, Canada, India and Ceylon have been printed. That for the United States is expected to be ready for transmission to London about August 1st.

In the absence of any provision, the Smithsonian Institution is carrying on the work for the United States, although with very inadequate force. It would be very desirable if legislation could be had to enable the Smithsonian Institution to prosecute this work more vigorously and without drawing upon its own funds.

J. S. BILLINGS, _Chairman_. CYRUS ADLER, _Secretary_.

Pres. CARR: Dr. Hosmer has, I think, a communication to make that is of concern to us all.

MEMORIAL TO JOHN FISKE.

Dr. HOSMER: Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen:

We meet here in the midst of beautiful surroundings, but with considerable discomfort. Perhaps we hardly make it real to ourselves that this is in our country a time of calamity. Never in the course of a somewhat long experience, can I remember so many fatalities from the terrible heat of the summer. The newspapers have come to us from day to day with the list of victims from the great cities, and this morning comes in intelligence of a death which touches us librarians very closely--the death of John Fiske. He died yesterday at Gloucester, Mass., overcome by the heat; and I think it entirely right to say that in the death of John Fiske comes the extinction of the greatest force in American literature at the present moment. John Fiske, while not a member of our association, was at one time a librarian; he had a great interest in the Association; he was the personal friend of many of its members. It is perhaps quite right to say that no author at the present time is so frequently in the mouths and in the hands of the librarians. It has been thought fitting by the executive committee that we should make an exception in his case, and that there should be some formal mention of his passing. I regret very much that the time is so brief. What I have to say must be unconsidered.

In several directions, John Fiske was a great writer. First as regards the doctrine of evolution, the great idea which has come to the world in our day. What a great and solemn thing it is! The slow process through the lapse of ages from the monad to that which crawls, then to that which swims, then to that which flies, until we come at last to that which walks erect with brow expanded broadly to the light of heaven; the slow increment of intelligence in the brain, as species becomes merged in constantly higher species; the extension of infancy, with its beautiful sequence of humanity, of love, of spirituality. This has come to be accepted by scientific minds as the path which the divine energy chooses to follow in the work of creation. Now, among our American writers, I suppose there is no one who has had so much to do with the development of the doctrine of evolution as John Fiske. He was the intimate friend and counsellor of Darwin, of Huxley, of Herbert Spencer, of Tyndall. They recognized in him their peer, and if it is the case--and I believe it to be the case--that John Fiske contributed to the doctrine of evolution the idea of the "extension of infancy" as being the cause of what is most gentle and lovely in humanity he deserves to be named with the first of those who have been connected with that great theory.

In the second place as a historian, this wonderfully versatile man stands among the very first of the country. As a historian, John Fiske is not to be spoken of without discrimination. He had his limitations. I do not think that he had the power of picturesque description to the extent that Motley or Prescott possessed it. I do not think that he had the power of indefatigable research to the extent that it was possessed by our honored fellow-member, Justin Winsor. I do not think that he had the faculty of character-drawing as it was possessed for instance by the great historian, Clarendon, of the seventeenth century. But John Fiske had his gift, and it was a remarkable one. Taking a chaotic mass of facts, I know of no other American writer who had such genius to go in among them, to discern the vital links that connected one with another, to get order and system out of it, and then to present the result with a lucidity and a beauty which carried captive every reader. That was his faculty, as a historian; and he possessed it to such an extent and he used it in such a way that he is entitled to a place among our greatest historians.

Nor are these the only claims to distinction of this great man who has gone. As a religious leader, John Fiske is one of the foremost men of the time. His "Destiny of man," his "Idea of God," his latest noble address on the immortality of the soul, not yet published, are priceless writings, and men and women among the very best and brightest find in these books the best expression and guidance for their religious feelings.

Every one here has had opportunity, abundant opportunity, to know the greatness of John Fiske's mind. Few here, perhaps no other one, has had such opportunity as I have had to know the warmth and the generosity of his heart. For ten years in the Washington University, at St. Louis, we were colleagues; for 35 years we have been friends, and as I stand here before you to speak of him, my emotions fairly overcome me and I can do nothing but take my seat; but it is appropriate that in the American Library Association there should be some recognition taken of the passing from the midst of us of this great and noble figure.

Pres. CARR: After these fitting and touching words, we can hardly have it in our hearts to transact any further business this session, and therefore, if there is no objection, we will proceed to take an adjournment.

Mr. CRUNDEN: I think a fitting action, on the suggestion of Dr. Hosmer, would be the appointment of a committee, with Dr. Hosmer as chairman, to draw up memorial resolutions. I make a motion to that effect.

The motion was adopted, and a committee was appointed, of J. K. Hosmer, George Iles, and R. G. Thwaites.

Adjourned 12 m.

_THIRD SESSION._

(FOUNTAIN SPRING HOUSE, SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 6.)

The meeting was called to order by President CARR at 10.20.

In the absence of R. R. BOWKER, chairman, W. E. HENRY read the

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.

The Committee on Public Documents this year makes an exclusively negative report. The Congress was occupied so exclusively with matters of larger public policy, particularly in relation with new territorial developments, that no attention was given in either house to public documents measures. A bill was presented in the House of Representatives by Mr. Heatwole, on somewhat different lines from the Platt bill offered in the Senate last year, but like that in essential conformity with the general position taken by the American Library Association. This bill did not, however, progress beyond the introductory steps.

Within the past twelvemonth the Indiana State Library has issued its useful "Subject catalog of U. S. public documents in the Indiana State Library," as an appendix to the 23d biennial report of the state library, covering 289 pages, and presenting a useful conspectus within its field. This index, while serving helpfully as a general key for the use of other libraries through the range of documents contained in each specific library, suggests the greater importance of an adequate subject index to U. S. government publications in general, which could be made a checklist by several state and other libraries. The Indiana State Library has also prepared an index to the _Documentary Journal_ of Indiana from the beginning of that publication in 1835 to 1899, which is included in the 23d report of that library.

There is also little to report as to state publications, although there is evident a growth of interest in state bibliography, particularly in the state libraries. Part second of the bibliography of "State publications" is promised for the present year, including the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

A contribution of interest within this field has been made by the Acorn Club, of Connecticut, which has issued an elaborate bibliographical record of "Connecticut state laws," from the earliest times to 1836, compiled by A.C. Bates, librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society, a useful feature of the work being the indication, when possible, of some library in which each issue recorded may be found. Record may also be made, in this connection, of the work accomplished or accomplishing by the Public Archives Commission of the American Historical Association, headed by Prof. William McDonald, of Bowdoin College, as chairman, in which Professors Robinson, of Columbia, Caldwell, of Nebraska, Bugbee, of Texas, who are his associates on the committee, have the co-operation of representatives in the several states. While this commission does not concern itself specifically with bibliography, it is preparing the way for a better bibliography of state publications than has hitherto been possible, by investigating the conditions of the public archives of each state, with a view to inducing the systematic and more complete collection in each state of its own archives, including its printed documents as well as manuscript records.

R. R. BOWKER, } W. E. HENRY, }_Committee._ JOHNSON BRIGHAM. }

HERBERT PUTNAM: I would suggest that the Superintendent of Documents is here, and that possibly he might have some suggestion or recommendation to make on the subject of this report.

L. C. FERRELL: I suppose anything I may have to say will be in addition to what was said in the report of the committee on public documents, as the report was rather negative. The matter of bringing about any legislation requires time and involves a great deal of hard work upon somebody. This is especially so if the subject is one in which no member of Congress, in particular, has a personal interest. It generally takes 10 or 12 years to pass any bill of interest to the people that no member of Congress will take care of personally. If it is a matter like saving the country, you can get a fifty million dollar bill passed in half an hour, but you cannot get a member of Congress to take up and pass a bill changing the method of printing and the distribution of documents without a great deal of pressure. Now, if Mr. Heatwole, chairman of the House Committee on Printing, was here, I think we might accomplish something to advantage on that subject, because I think if he could meet this great body of librarians face to face, we might get him to commit himself as to what he will do next session. He has promised me to take up this matter next winter and revise the printing laws from "A" to "Z," as he expressed it, but whether he will do so or not, I cannot say. Now, I shall prepare another bill, or have the old bill introduced again, I do not know which, and, as long as I remain in the office of Superintendent of Documents, I shall endeavor to bring about legislation on the lines proposed in the bills heretofore presented to Congress. In the first place, I want all the government periodicals taken out of the Congressional series and bound in cloth, so that they can be distributed to the libraries as soon as they are printed. But one edition of any document ought to be printed, and that edition ought to have the same endorsement on the back and the same title on the inside. If we continue to print duplicate and triplicate editions--departmental, bureau, and congressional--librarians will always have trouble in classifying and cataloging them. As far as my record is concerned, I suppose most of you are familiar with it. I am constantly endeavoring to improve the service. I have adopted a cumulative index for the monthly catalog; cumulative for six months, with a consolidated index for the entire year, in the December number. That was done mainly because the annual catalog cannot be printed so as to be distributed promptly, and the monthly catalog fully indexed can be made to answer all temporary purposes. Now, we have three series of catalogs, as you all know, perhaps, each one serving a distinctive purpose. The document catalog, or comprehensive index--its official title--is intended for permanent use. It includes all documents printed during a fiscal year--July 1 to June 30, following. The document index is a subject, title, and author index of all congressional documents, indicating the number of each document and the volume in which it is bound up. In the monthly catalog all documents are arranged alphabetically under the author of the document, and everything related to the same subject is brought together in the index. Now, we are broadening out a little in our work; probably doing something Congress never contemplated we should do when the office was established. We are doing a good deal of bibliographical work, and I intend to enlarge upon it as I have the opportunity. We have published "Reports of explorations printed in the documents of the United States government, a contribution toward a bibliography," by Miss Hasse; a "Bibliography of U. S. public documents relating to inter-oceanic communication across Nicaragua, Panama, etc.," and we expect soon to take up the subject of documents relating to the various states, the purpose being to make a complete bibliography of everything printed in the U. S. public documents concerning each state and territory. We propose to take up the matter of documents relating to the Louisiana purchase first, because we are going to have a great exposition two years from now at St. Louis to commemorate that great event.

J. C. DANA presented the

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION WITH THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

Early last winter I secured from librarians, library assistants and teachers about 25 brief articles on co-operation between libraries and schools. These articles were written with special reference to teachers. I made a descriptive list of them and sent this list to leading educational journals in this country, with the request that the editors thereof select from it one or more of the articles and publish them prior to July 1, 1901. Largely through the kindness of Mr. Winship, editor of the _Journal of Education_ of Boston, I got the promise of publication of these articles from educational editors to the number of 25. The articles were duly sent out. I regret to have to report that I have received notice of the publication of less than half a dozen of the whole number. A few others may have been published, but the editors have never notified me of the fact. The articles were brief and chiefly written by persons prominent in library work in this country, they were of general interest, and seemed to deserve publication. The fact that they did not get it is to my mind somewhat indicative of the comparative unimportance of libraries in the opinion of educational people of this country.

Since coming here I have learned of another little incident which throws some light on our relation to the educational profession of this country. From the office of _Public Libraries_ the program of the meeting of the library department of the N. E. A. at Detroit was sent to 32 leading educational journals in this country with the request that they print it. Of these 32 papers two only printed the program as requested, or at least two only printed it and gave due notice of the fact.