CHAPTER III

PERIODICALS IN THE BUSINESS LIBRARY--HOW TO USE AND HOW TO FILE THEM

The Value of Periodicals

Periodicals are the most fruitful source of information for any business, and there is periodical literature of value being issued constantly on every conceivable subject. Every industry and profession has its journals and in them will be found the latest and best information.

The value of periodicals in a business organization was very ably stated some time ago by the secretary of an electrical association, and as this testimony is not from a librarian but from a practical business man, it seems worth while to quote as follows:

"The technical or trade journal of today is the livest and most 'up-to-now' assistant a business man has. It is carefully edited, well-printed, fully illustrated and thoroughly indexed both as to literary matter and advertisements. It is the 'always ready reference' of the minute, and the official, head of a department, or even workman, who does not use it to its fullest capacity, is neglecting one of his best friends. I have been surprised to find how many of the larger companies are actually stingy when it comes to paying out money for subscriptions to their trade and technical journals. They talk about one, two or three dollars per year as if it were that many hundreds; they look at the expenditure as if it were an expense instead of an investment, which, properly handled, will bring good returns.

"In no other way can any business man, no matter how high or low his position, keep so fully abreast of the times in his business as by early and careful perusal of his trade and technical periodical, from its front to its back cover, and from no other source can he obtain the 'immediately useful' so well as he can from a well filled and indexed present volume of those same publications."

"Printers' Ink" has also stated the case as follows:

"The manufacturer, desirous of keeping his finger on the pulse at Washington, who will spend ten dollars, or fifteen dollars, or twenty dollars a year for business papers and other periodicals that specialize with respect to business news from the national capital, can be pretty well assured that he has every tip that could come to him via the intelligence office, that asks a fee of fifty or one hundred dollars per annum. Indeed, it has happened, not once but dozens of times this past year or two that business journals, etc., carried information days and even weeks before it was sent out in the mimeographed 'letters' and 'bulletins' which the former bureaus distributed, marked 'confidential' and 'not for publication.'"

The Contents of Periodicals

Not only do periodicals contain lengthy articles on special subjects, but every item in them from cover to cover is of value; for example, in engineering periodicals the business library is greatly aided by the current news notes on books, pamphlets, meetings and people; information on state and federal legislation; prices of materials and second-hand material for sale or wanted to purchase, new construction notes, new devices and best makes of standard supplies.

The brief notes found in current periodicals, announcing the publication of trade pamphlets, reports of state boards, special committees, private corporations and bulletins published by universities, lectures delivered at colleges and papers presented at state meetings of associations, are most valuable guides in collecting pamphlets, which although in many cases may be had for the asking, represent a collection of valuable data which can not be replaced by the expenditure of any amount of money and yet most of it costs only a polite letter of request.

Aids in Selection of Periodicals

The business man or the business librarian will first of all desire to select the periodicals that best cover the needs of his organization. If he wishes to ascertain the titles of periodicals on special subjects in order to obtain sample copies for examination, or if he has the title and wishes to find the frequency of issue, the place of publication and subscription price, there are several books that give such information and which should be found in the public library of his city. It is advisable also for him to see a list of all periodicals which are on file at his public library with a view to examining those which may be suited to his immediate needs. The following books will give information about periodicals on special subjects.

Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual Directory with mid-year supplement, published by N. W. Ayer, Philadelphia, $10.00.

2400 Business Books, published by H. W. Wilson Company, New York, 1920, price $5.00.

Severance Guide to the Current Periodicals and Serials in the United States and Canada. A new edition will be published shortly by George Wahr, Ann Arbor, Michigan, price $6.00. This new edition will contain a list of House Organs published in the United States. A recent list of House Organs may be found in Printers' Ink, August 29, 1918, and subsequent issues, and a list of Employees' Magazines may be purchased from Printers' Ink for twenty-five cents.

A list of periodicals published by the United States Government can be obtained free of charge from Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

The Checking of Periodicals

The care of periodicals is one of the important pieces of work which consumes a large portion of the business librarian's time. All periodicals received by the business library are stamped, as soon as the mail is opened, with the word "Library" and the name of the firm, and checked on monthly or weekly card records, size 3 by 5 inches, specially ruled for the purpose and obtainable from library supply firms. This card record enables the librarian to know if all copies to date have been received and on the back of the card also provides a record of expirations and renewals of subscriptions. A notation may be made also on this card of the names of persons to whom the periodical is to be regularly sent.

The Indexing of Periodicals

After the periodicals are checked, the librarian should go through them rapidly, keeping well in mind all the topics of particular interest to the organization, and also special requests from individuals for the latest information on subjects, which they have designated as being of present value to them. It is a good plan also to ask heads of departments who read periodicals regularly every week, to call the attention of the librarian to any special articles which they think valuable and to which they might wish to refer again. This strengthens the librarian's reading and makes doubly sure that no information of importance is overlooked.

All articles or items of importance are assigned a subject heading (which will be discussed in the chapter on cataloging) and a card is made for the subject card index to periodical material. The trained librarian will know how to discriminate and reduce this indexing to a minimum.

Some one may ask at this point why it is necessary for the librarian to do subject indexing to periodical articles when there are good printed indexes to them, such as Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, Industrial Arts Index, and the Agricultural Index, published by The H. W. Wilson Company, New York City (samples and prices upon application) and in addition The Engineering Index, recently acquired by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and published monthly in the Journal of that Society with an annual cumulated volume. There are several reasons why subject indexing must be done by the librarian; first because these printed indexes do not index many of the periodicals which are of importance to the business library and second, because in the periodicals which are covered by these indexes, there are many items of importance to business firms which are too short to be entered in the general printed indexes. The time element is also an important factor in the business library, as the subject card index is made at once and immediately ready for reference, while the printed indexes are of necessity never strictly up to date. For example, an engineering firm was desirous of keeping up to date on all increases in gas and electric rates throughout the country, due to the increased cost of production, on account of higher prices of materials. Various journals reported such items each week, sometimes in not more than a dozen lines. In such a case the librarian's minute reading and quick indexing was invaluable, and gave a service not to be expected of the printed index.

A word should be said, however, at this point in regard to the value of printed indexes, for example the "Industrial Arts Index." Periodicals are sealed books without indexes, and printed indexes are invaluable working tools, first, because no business librarian will attempt the impossible task of making a subject card for every article of value in current periodicals, and second, because a live business organization in these days of sudden changes in economic conditions cannot possibly foresee every subject in which it may be interested. When these unexpected subjects arise for which the business librarian has not made provision, the printed indexes come to the rescue and serve the need most admirably. The indexes to separate volumes of individual periodicals, which the publishers issue at the completion of each volume, and in many cases do not send unless requested to do so, are not of great value because, with few exceptions, the subject indexing is poor. Many of them invert the title of the article in order to enter it under the most striking word which it contains, without consideration of its real subject content, and without further consideration of the three, four or more subjects on which the article is very likely to contain valuable information.

The Circulation of Periodicals

After the periodicals have been read and subject indexed by the librarian, as necessity requires, and this should be done immediately on mail delivery, they are sent to the desks of the members of the organization who are most vitally interested in any special information which they contain. Methods of circulation vary in different types of business libraries; some business libraries which serve a large constituency prefer to make typewritten or mimeographed lists of subject references to articles in the periodicals received during the week, and circulate these lists throughout the organization, asking the men to send to the library for any article they desire to read. This method does not suit busy executives who have no time to read a list and make a selection, and who wish the material itself put in front of them.

Some business librarians route their periodicals, attaching a slip with a list of names indicating the next person to whom the periodical is to be sent, when a reader is finished with it. Other business librarians send the individual periodicals direct to one man only, with a slip attached calling his attention to the article of special interest to him. As soon as he is through with the periodical, he puts it in his outgoing basket and it is returned to the librarian, who sends it to a second man, with a special note of the contents for him. This method seems much more desirable than to route periodicals, because they most often fail to route--they simply side track! The periodical gets laid aside on some one's desk and the librarian does not know whether it is being passed along promptly or not, whereas if the periodical is sent direct to one individual and is not promptly returned, the librarian goes after it, if it is important that it should go to someone else in the organization, without unreasonable delay. In large organizations with hundreds of employes to be reached, the routing of periodicals is absolutely necessary. The practice of the librarian of one large corporation is to subscribe for one copy of each weekly periodical for every five men who desire to read that periodical and one copy of each monthly periodical for every seven men. To insure quick routing, the names of delinquents are put at the end of the list of those to whom the periodical circulates, and the names of the men who have proved that they pass on the periodical quickly are put at the top of the list.

The circulation or routing slip which is attached to each periodical bears the following: "Please keep this magazine in circulation. To be of value it must reach every man on this list within a week. If you cannot read it now, send it on without checking off your name and it will be returned to you later. Mark at the right of your name the page number of any article that you believe should be indexed for future reference."

A simple loan record on 3 by 5 inch cards specially ruled and of which illustrations are shown, should be kept under the name of the man to whom the periodical is sent, and also under the name of the periodical, in order that the librarian can tell on a moment's notice where any issue of a periodical is and also what each man has charged against him. Books and other library material may be charged in the same manner.

Business men in general, so experience proves, exercise no particular responsibility either to return material or to replace it, for the business organization has no rules for lending, and the responsibility of knowing what material is out of the library, where it is, and that it is brought back or replaced, falls upon the librarian. The business librarian with his loan record as a guide tactfully asks if the business man is finished with the material, and if so, collects it; in some cases the collection is made without asking, when a visit to a man's office clearly shows that the material is side-tracked and dusty. This is one of the most tedious duties which falls to the business librarian's lot, but one of the most important ones, for the function of the librarian is to get material used freely, and not hoarded.

Business men who always get what they want from their library on a moment's notice do not appreciate the time and patience such service requires on the part of their librarian, for no genius is involved in the case of the librarian who always has ready on the shelves what is needed. Often a business man who literally wants material on a minute's notice, is the one who is most careless in cooperating with the librarian by returning material, and who does not want to stop a moment to have a loan record made. Sometimes a business man gets in a hurry for library material, which the librarian says he already has, but which he insists is not in his office, whereupon the librarian goes to his office, and pleasantly and often humorously unearths it from the bottom of the pile of material on his desk or table.

In the matter of the loaning of material the business librarian certainly has to be characterized by the words "long suffering," for he must make no excuses and deliver material in spite of the delinquencies of others. If some one at this point protests that it is unfair to the business librarian, the answer is, that the business man has a right to do as he pleases with his own, and that the business librarian exists to save a busy man from the error of his ways, for it must be remembered always that the business library is organized to give service to men of affairs, burdened with large responsibilities. All business men are not careless in returning material, and certainly minor employes have no right to be, but it will have to be admitted that business men, who never think of taking the trouble to return material are in the majority.

The Binding and Filing of Periodicals

After the current periodicals have made their last tour of the offices they come back to the library to be filed for future use. What disposition shall be made of them? Shall important articles be clipped and filed and the remainder of the periodical thrown away, or shall a complete file be kept for six months or a year and then thrown away, or shall files be kept complete and bound for permanent books of reference? The latter method represents the best library practice for the following reasons. No business organization or business librarian is prophetical enough to foresee exactly what information will be useful to keep in a business library for future use, when one considers the variety of valuable material found each week in the periodicals, which cover the activities of a certain line of business. Complete files of bound periodicals constitute one of the most valuable reference aids that any business library can possess. Clipping valuable periodicals might in some instances be compared to cutting out an article from a valuable encyclopedia.

One of the values of having periodicals bound is that they do not get lost or misplaced or carried off so readily, as a separate number or a clipping would. Bound volumes do not take up so much space as might at first thought be imagined, for a three-foot shelf will hold the bound volumes of the larger size periodicals for a six or seven years period, and the number of worth while periodicals devoted to any one industry (excluding of course the annual volumes of societies) are comparatively few, and twelve to fifteen sets would be the maximum for any one business library.

The replacing immediately of a lost or mutilated periodical is one of the important duties of the business librarian, for it is reasonably sure that the lost or mutilated number has something of real importance in it, else it would not have been so treated by any member of the organization; it is also important to replace it as soon as possible, because often back numbers are difficult to obtain.

Business men as a rule know nothing of the principles of satisfactory binding and generally give the work to commercial printing establishments who misplace pages and sections, and make mistakes in titles and volume numbers in lettering the backs. If a business house does not have a librarian to supervise its binding, it should be careful to select if possible a bindery which specializes in library binding and will do the work in accordance with the best library practice. An illustration is shown of correct position and style for lettering the backs of bound volumes.

It is not advisable to bind the volumes of every periodical received, for many are only of passing interest, and while it is advisable to keep such an unbound file for a year or two, at the end of that time the librarian will be guided by his experience and use discretion in disposing of out of date material.

The best method of preserving the current numbers of periodicals which are to be permanently bound or preserved without binding is by the use of Library Bureau pamphlet boxes, or similar makes, made in a variety of dimensions.

The "L. B. pamphlet box" is made of heavy chip-board covered with glazed paper or black cloth, and half of one side doubles back on itself permitting of easy consultation without removal of the contents. These boxes stand on edge like books and are dust proof.

"Wood C. C. pamphlet case" is made of seasoned wood and covered with durable paper. This case has a closed top and open back and is therefore not dust proof and has to be taken off the shelf to consult the contents. For general use the L. B. pamphlet box is preferable for business library work. Some business libraries also use a specially made box of heavy cardboard covered with book cloth and with a card label holder on the back, similar in style to the "Wood C. C. pamphlet case," and which can be made by any good paper box factory, at prices ranging from fifteen to twenty cents each on quantities, according to the size desired. H. Schultz and Company, 519 West Superior Street, Chicago, Illinois, advertise quotations on stock of this kind. A photograph is shown of the style of boxes used by the National Safety Council, Chicago, for filing copies of current circulars which are distributed to their members.

The Clipping of Periodicals

Clipping may be legitimately indulged in, when an article of interest is found in a single number of a periodical, to which the library does not subscribe. Newspaper items, of course, must always be clipped and there will be always material like printed leaflets which will require the same kind of filing as clippings.

Clippings are best filed in vertical file units, and methods of filing and indexing are discussed in Chapter VI. The "U-File-M" binder strips manufactured by the U-File-M Manufacturing Co., Syracuse, New York, are exceedingly useful and satisfactory for fastening clippings, single sheets or thin booklets into vertical file folders. These strips need to be visualized by samples in order to clearly understand how they work, but they can be described in general as gummed strips a half-inch in width and 11 inches long with forty-four gummed tabs one-eighth of an inch wide affixed, which can be pulled out from under a protecting strip with the finger nail. The eleven-inch strip or any cut off portion, can be glued horizontally or vertically into a folder and papers or clippings attached by the gummed tabs.

Business firms who wish to keep up with any special information appearing in the daily press often employ a press clipping bureau. Such service always furnishes quantity rather than quality, as no attempt is made to select only items of real value. For example, a firm specializing in the manufacture of canned milk ordered a clipping bureau to send it all newspaper clippings on milk and among the clippings sent was one of a milkman arrested for speeding, and similar clippings were frequently sent. If very special information from the daily press is desired the clipping should be done by a person within the organization who has intimate knowledge both of the subject and of the need.

SOME DEALERS IN BACK NUMBERS OF PERIODICALS

Abrahams Book Store, 145 Fourth Avenue, New York City.

F. W. Faxon Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

The H. W. Wilson Company, New York City.