Part 39

V. Latin palæography and various styles--Bookmaking in the Middle Ages--Schools of calligraphy--Scriptorium and its rules--Colophons--Monastic libraries.

VI. Secular scribes of Middle Ages; Gilds. Art of illumination with examples of illuminated mss.--Changes resulting from introduction of paper--Cotton vs. linen paper--Block printing in China and Europe--Block books.

VII. Invention of printing--Career of Gutenberg--Earliest printed books--Spread of the art in Germany, Italy, France, England--Printing in America.

VIII. Incunabula--Characteristics--Types, abbreviations, signatures, colophons with examples.

IX. Technical terms for sizes of books--Confusion of size and form--Signatures, water-marks, size notation.

X. Bindings of books--Historical sketch--Processes of book binding--Examples.

XI. Rare books--Fashions in books--Famous presses--Famous editions.

XII. Illustrated books--Methods of illustration--Manuals for collectors.

XIII. Classification of books in libraries; various systems briefly described, with examples.

XIV. Catalogs and cataloging; various kinds of catalogs briefly described, with examples.

XV. Aids in use of the library--Reference lists--Bibliographies, national and special, with examples.

Prof. CHARLES H. HASKINS, professor of European history in the University of Wisconsin, presented an outline of his

COURSE IN HISTORICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.

My standpoint is that of the user, not the custodian, of books, and of the user of historical books in particular. There is no branch of knowledge more dependent upon bibliography than is history. The natural sciences, for example, get their bibliographies through current journals and their original materials in the laboratory, while the student of history must not only cover current literature thoroughly but is entirely dependent upon bibliographies to guide him to the primary sources of his subject of study. There is not as yet enough definite instruction in historical bibliography offered in American universities; indeed, there is some vagueness as to just what historical bibliography is. In the work at Wisconsin the course is divided into two broad sections. The first half of the course is taken up with a general account of the manuscript and printed collections of historical material in Europe and America. The second half begins with a description of the bibliographical tools which all students alike use, the national bibliographies, and the trade bibliographies of all the important countries, and goes on to consider the bibliographical materials peculiar to history and of prime importance only to the historical student. In this connection especial stress is laid upon the historical periodicals. The aim throughout the whole course is to indicate the nature and the range of historical material, where it is to be found, what and where are the sources, so that the student will come to know what he wants and where to find it. The course is given one hour each week through a half year and is taken entirely by graduate students. The registration is usually from 8 to 12. The work in the lectures is supplemented by many references to articles and books. In the latter part of the course the "Manuel de bibliographie historique" of Langlois is used as a text in the hands of the students. The second edition of this book, which is just out, forms an exceedingly satisfactory book for this purpose, and is supplemented by informal comment and mention of additional material. In this admirable little volume nothing of importance is omitted and very little indeed which is unimportant is included. Very much is made of the actual handling of the books by the students. No regular system of practical exercises in connection with this course has yet been worked out, but progress is being made in this direction. The object is primarily to impress students with the importance of the use of bibliographical tools. Considerable practice in the use of bibliographies is also given in all the advanced courses in history.

In general I have found that much inconvenience both to students and instructors results from the habit of secluding all the most important bibliographies in the catalog room. If it be true that these bibliographies are constantly needed in the catalog room, they should be duplicated for the use of the students. This practice of seclusion would not be worth mention did it not seem to be habitual in almost all libraries, and I wish here to register a special plea that bibliographies may be shelved just as publicly as any other section of the library.

I am much interested in Mr. Josephson's proposals for developing bibliographical instruction in universities. It seems to me he has taken hold of the matter by the right end, and the establishment of a course similar to that he suggests would not only be of value to future librarians by giving them wider opportunities for general training than they can get in special schools, but would also prove helpful to advanced students in all departments of study. I hope some university will take the matter up. I am in sympathy with any instruction, formal or informal, which brings instructors and students to a better knowledge of how to use the library and the books.

COURSES AT OTHER COLLEGES.

Mr. ROOT gave in detail the work he is doing at Oberlin in this line. He said:

We offer at Oberlin a course in bibliography in each college year. The first year the work has to do with the use of libraries, with questions of classification and cataloging, and is designed to aid the new students in becoming familiar with the methods in use in our own library and also with accepted methods in all well-conducted libraries. The course in the second year has to do with the history of books and of printing. This work is almost entirely historical. Some study is given to the process and history of binding, with examples of famous bindings. The third year work deals with palæography and the history and development of handwriting, illumination, and work with manuscripts in general. The fourth year work is in the nature of a seminar and is devoted to instruction in bibliography. After an outline of the leading national and trade bibliographies, problems in bibliography are handled and discussed. The courses fill half of the college year, one lecture per week being given. The work is entirely elective and the completion of all of it enables a student to elect one-eighth of his course in this subject. I should be glad to see recognition by the leading library schools of this work, perhaps giving students advanced credit when work has been satisfactorily done at any reputable college.

WALTER M. SMITH, librarian of the University of Wisconsin, briefly outlined the elementary work done there with new students, and maintained that formal lectures were not so good as practical instruction in the use of the library both from the librarian's desk and from the reference desk.

Miss SHARP, librarian of the University of Illinois, stated that a one-hour course was given there for the general student body in the use of the library. Regular university credit is given, but students may attend these lectures optionally and many do so.

ANDREW KEOGH, of Yale University Library, described a short course in the use of the library offered at that university. Two lectures are given, one in the class room and one in the library, accompanied with actual demonstration with the books. Some further and more elective work is given as graduate work at Yale, but the elementary work is compulsory with all new students.

A letter was read from Dr. H. P. TALBOT, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, giving full description of his

COURSE IN BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHEMISTRY.

My attempts to interest my students in books and bibliographies are briefly these: For one term of 15 weeks of the junior year the students of the course in chemistry devote an hour each week (with two hours assigned for preparation) to practice in reading chemical German. The subject matter assigned is either from some work on general or analytical chemistry or from some current journal. Of late I have confined myself mostly to a work on inorganic chemistry. The purpose here is not at all to attempt to teach German, but to assist the students in acquiring a moderate facility in reading, that is, sufficient to enable them to get the _essentials_ from an article, rather than to make a finished translation.

During the term following this, there is assigned to the class one or more (usually two) topics, and they are required to prepare and submit for inspection a bibliography of the journal literature upon these subjects. This year the topic assigned to the whole class was the "Determination of sulphur in irons and steels." The class (of 30) was divided into squads, and to each squad a second topic was assigned, such as "The use of sodium peroxide in analytical chemistry," "The preparation and analysis of persulphuric acid and the persulphates," "The recovery of molybdic acid from residues," etc.

General directions are given as to procedure in the compilation of the bibliography, the use of such periodicals as the _Centralblatt_ as a starting point, and also the way to record and classify the references found.

This year we have used library cards for the recording of the references for the first time, with marked success. Each card was to bear the original reference, the _Centralblatt_ or _Jahresbericht_ reference, the title of the article (if possible) and a very brief statement of its contents. The cards were then to be grouped according to a classification to be worked out by the student.

Each student had finally about 200 cards, often with several references on a card. They were allowed to divide the journals among the members of a given squad, and to exchange cards.

The results are most satisfactory. The work has been well done as a whole, and already I hear of resolves on their part to keep up a card catalog of interesting articles, which is a promising symptom.

Each year for some time, I have devoted a single hour near the close of the year to a brief discussion of books, from the point of view of the needs of a person desiring to collect a small library. In this connection I have put into the students hands a list of "Standard works" citing the essential reference books on the subject, and have commented briefly on the list. Please understand that this list is not by any means infallible, and that there are doubtless other works just as good as those mentioned.

Our senior students are all required to compile a bibliography of the literature of the subject chosen as a thesis, and to prepare a brief review of all recorded work, before they can begin their investigation, and the way in which they attack this work seems to indicate that the familiarity with journals and methods gained in the work of the junior year outlined above stands them in good stead.

In connection with the instruction in the history of chemistry, frequent preparation of memoirs and a study of works in this field is also required.

The list of books referred to in Dr. Talbot's letter was divided under the following heads: History of chemistry, Physiological chemistry, Organic chemistry, Technical chemistry, Agricultural chemistry, Analytical chemistry, Biography, Dictionaries, Tables, Dyeing, Foods, General chemistry, Toxicology.

J. I. WYER, librarian of the University of Nebraska, outlined a course of 16 lectures which are given there during the first semester of every alternate year, embracing national and trade bibliography, reference books, and thorough drill in subject bibliography. The work is primarily given as part of the apprentices' training for the library, but is attended by advanced and graduate students in other departments. Regular university credit is given for the work.

W. STETSON MERRILL, of the Newberry Library, read a paper, entitled

A DESIDERATUM FOR LIBRARY SCHOOLS.

As I am desirous that you should apprehend precisely what it is that I am to suggest as a desideratum for the library schools, I will ask to be permitted to lead up to my point, rather than state it at the outset.

We are all of us daily impressed with the rapidity of change and enlargement in the arts, sciences and various achievements of knowledge to-day. In some departments, indeed, such as the natural sciences, we expect the accepted opinions of one decade to give place to others in the next decade. But we perhaps hardly realize that there is a similar progress in the historical, sociological and religious sciences, and in the fine arts. New facts are discovered, verdicts of history are reviewed, new schools of thought and methods of study are established; new men, new theories, new things come up every year, almost every day.

Now, a librarian is expected to bring the stores of knowledge to an inquiring public; to render available the resources of accumulated wisdom which but for him would be like gold hidden in the veins of the rock. To perform this function requires of course primarily a certain amount of educational training. A library assistant should be at least a high school graduate; the librarian of a library of research should be a college bred man, as such collegiate training will be found to his own advantage and to that of his library.

But how after all their training and preparation are librarians, library workers or students of library science to keep abreast of the time? This is really the problem in what may be called the higher education of the library profession. It may be thought that the reading of annual cyclopedias, periodicals and the latest treatises will suffice to keep members of the profession posted upon all subjects of importance. Yet a little consideration will show that by such means much time and labor are sacrificed. A library worker reads in such a case, not for general information, but to ascertain definite and pertinent facts of importance to him in his special field of work. What he wishes to know are indeed the new discoveries, facts and opinions; viewed, however, not in themselves as events in the progress of the sciences, but as bearing upon the classification and nomenclature of the respective sciences which treat of them, and upon the relations which those sciences bear to others. He needs also an up-to-date acquaintance with the great men of the time, not in a personal way, but through the contributions which they have made to knowledge. Otherwise he will not discern the authority upon any given subject from a tyro or an ignoramus. A true knowledge of bibliography does not consist merely in knowing lists of books or in knowing where to find such lists. It implies an acquaintance with the relative values of books as well.

A thoroughly equipped reference attendant or cataloger should also be familiar with the shibboleths and theories of the schools and with the opinions of scholars upon questions of the day. Now how is he to learn all this? He cannot learn it before he begins to study library work, because it is a growing, living thing--this mass of current fact and opinion. Yet he has no time to master each science for himself, and in merely cursory reading he will miss the point which is to be of most use to him in his particular line of work.

I reply that he needs the spoken word of the expert, framed and directed to meet the special requirements of his case. The expert who knows his subject in all its bearings can tell us at once just what we want to know, if we have a chance to ask him.

Let us have then before our library schools and--I may add also--our library clubs and associations, periodical talks by specialists upon their respective subjects, presenting in a concise form the progress of these sciences and arts with special reference to the needs of library workers, as outlined above.

Such a presentation will enable the librarian, the reference attendant, the cataloger or the classifier to perform his work with an assurance and a facility that can be acquired in no other way. He will be acting under expert advice. The special points to be brought out will be presented to the lecturer beforehand; he will prepare his statement, deliver it, and later answers inquiries which may have arisen. We all know how much easier it is to ask somebody about something than it is to look it up in some book. Let questions be noted as they occur and the class be given a chance to ask them of an authority.

These lectures or talks need not and should not be confined to student class rooms. Let them be public lectures which library workers outside the school may attend upon payment of a small fee. The intrinsic interest of a lecture upon some topic of the day whether literary, historical, political, or scientific, would attract in a way that a course upon pure bibliography can never do. As our library schools are so integrally a part, as a rule, of some system of collegiate instruction, there should be no difficulty in securing the services of different members of the faculty. I may repeat also that no more useful program of work for a library club during a season could be planned than a course of just such talks as I have described. To tell the truth, the matter of this paper first occurred to me in its bearings upon the work of library clubs. To them and to the directors of our library schools it is presented for their consideration.

Following this the representatives of the various library schools were asked to describe the

WORK OFFERED IN BIBLIOGRAPHY AT THE LIBRARY SCHOOLS.

Mr. BISCOE described the work at Albany, running through two years, the first being taken up with trade bibliography and the second with reference work and subject bibliography. The large resources of the New York State Library enable the students to see, study and use almost all books taken up and the work is accompanied with many problems. Further elective work is also offered to students desiring to specialize along this line.

Miss PLUMMER spoke for the Pratt Institute School. During the first year a general course of instruction in bibliography is offered, beginning with trade bibliography, students being referred to the leading works of reference in English, French and German through lectures and problems given during the year. Each student is required to prepare a reading list on a selected subject, requiring considerable research work, which must be satisfactory to the instructor. The leading national and subject bibliographies are included in the lectures, and the problems frequently require consultation of these. Ten lectures are given on the history of books and printing. This is merely an outline course offered partly that students may discover any latent inclination toward the historical course, that they may know there is that side to their work. "In the special lessons in French and German cataloging which we expect to undertake this fall," she said, "a study of foreign catalogs will be a prominent feature, and the students will collect for themselves a vocabulary of bibliographical terms in these languages. In the broad sense of the term bibliography, as we find it in the 'Century dictionary,' the subject is fairly well covered by the second year's historical course. Through the courtesy of the New York Public Library the class has had opportunity to do most of its work at the Lenox Library where there is a fine collection of reference books. The course begins with a study of reference books on the history of printing, bibliographies of the 15th century, etc., and books such as Hain, Panzer, etc., and the more general bibliographies, _e.g._, Brunet, Graesse. The history of bookmaking is studied from the period of the manuscript through the 15th century, and some work with American and other books has been done each year. The materials used in the earliest times, the methods of production and the steps leading to the invention of printing are all treated. The history of printing is studied by country, town, and printer, chronologically, and a study of the types used by different printers is made. For practical work the class catalogs 15th century books. The books used for consultation in this course have been very numerous, and perhaps a good working knowledge of them has been the most important feature of the work. The class was not and could not be limited to books in English, but used and in part translated books of reference in foreign languages. In the work with manuscripts the historical course depends upon instruction given by Prof. Egbert, professor of Latin palæography of Columbia University, who has made up a course especially adapted to the object of our work and to the time we have to give. Twenty-three lectures, only a few of which are devoted to the bibliography of the subject, comprise the instruction, two hours' work outside being necessary on each lecture. Much more is usually done by the students, who generally live in New York city while taking the historical course. The study of successive handwritings and abbreviations as illustrated by blue-prints furnished by the professor, leads naturally to early printed books, whose types were modelled after the handwriting of the period. Reports of the work of this class have been very satisfactory."

Miss KROEGER, of the Drexel Institute Library School, described a course of 15 lectures on the history of books and printing, given at her school.

The lectures embrace the following subjects:

I. The development of language, oral and written. Ancient systems of writing. Derivation of the English alphabet. The preservation of literature. Earliest forms of permanent records, literature, books, and libraries in the ancient civilizations of the east.

II. The literatures of Greece and Rome. The book in the classical age. Alexandria as a literary center. Barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire. Decline and extinction of ancient culture. Destruction of books and libraries.

III. The book in the Middle Ages. The preservation and the production of books in the monasteries. Development of the illuminated manuscript. The early Renascence in its relation to literature and books.

IV. The later Renascence: revival of learning. Recovery of ancient literature. Rome, Florence, and Venice as the centers of activity. Multiplication of manuscripts. The formation of modern libraries.

V. The art of engraving as the precursor of printing. The invention and diffusion of printing. The chief centers and the great masters of printing. The printed book and its influence upon civilization.

VI. Book illustration in ancient, medieval, and modern times.

VII. Books and libraries in Europe and the United States. Types of modern public libraries.

VIII. Makers and lovers of books, and their libraries.